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How Orange County became a refuge for Ukrainians fleeing war with Russia

February 24, 2023

In a quiet, gated community in Dana Point, a Ukrainian flag flies atop one of the houses. Inside, 9-year-old Arsenii and 7-year-old Mark play while their mothers Maria Kobylianska and Liudmyla Maksymenko sit at the dining table sipping coffee and nibbling on Ukrainian cookies.

Maksymenko is a refugee from Ukraine who came to the U.S. in June with her son, Arsenii. She’s become fast friends with Kobylianska, a Ukrainian American, and is grateful for the community Kobylianska has created for refugees fleeing the Russia-Ukraine war.

When Kobylianska moved to Dana Point from Chicago in December 2021, she joined the Facebook group “Ukrainians in Orange County” with around 600 members. However, she said, it was “super sleepy.” Whenever she posed a question to the group, no one would answer for 2-3 months.

Then, on Feb. 24, 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine.

“When the war started, it exploded,” said Kobylianska of the Facebook group.

It became a space for Ukrainians living in Orange County to discuss the war, ask questions and — as refugees started coming in — organize help. In the last year, the member count has ballooned to about 2,500.

Liudmyla Maksymenko, 35, a refugee from Ukraine, who came to the U.S. in June with her son, is pictured at the home of Maria Kobylianska in Dana Point on Wednesday, February 22, 2023. Maksymenko has become friends with Kobylianska and is grateful for the community Kobylianska has created for refugees fleeing the Russia-Ukraine War.
(Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Liudmyla Maksymenko, 35, a refugee from Ukraine, who came to the U.S. in June with her son, Arsenii 9 , are pictured at the home of Maria Kobylianska in Dana Point on Wednesday, February 22, 2023. Maksymenko has become friends with Kobylianska and is grateful for the community Kobylianska has created for refugees fleeing the Russia-Ukraine War.
(Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Holding a Ukrainian flag of the 10th Mountain Storm Brigade, signed by its members, are from left, Maria Kobylianska, her mother Nataliia Kobylianska, and Liudmyla Maksymenko in Dana Point on Wednesday, February 22, 2023. The flag will be sold at an auction to raise money for Ukraine. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Nataliia Kobylianska, 64, a refugee of the Russia-Ukraine War is shown at her daughter’s home, Maria Kobylianska,
in Dana Point on Wednesday, February 22, 2023. “America is a fantastic country,” said Nataliia Kobylianska in Ukrainian. But, she still misses her home In the small town of Kolomyia. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Holding a Ukrainian flag of the 10th Mountain Storm Brigade, signed by its members, are from left, Mark, 7, his parents, Maria Kobylianska and Ilya Gutnik, Nataliia Kobylianska, Liudmyla Maksymenko and her son Arsenii, 9, in Dana Point on Wednesday, February 22, 2023. The flag will be sold at an auction to raise money for Ukraine. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)

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Maksymenko, who now lives in Laguna Niguel, was one of the refugees who relied on the group to help her navigate life in the U.S.

With the constant sirens and the exploding rockets traumatizing her son, she made the decision to leave Ukraine. She left her husband and family behind in Uman (a town between Kyiv, the capital, and Odesa, a port city and one of the early targets in the war) and traveled to the U.S. through Poland with her only son in June.

“I cried a lot, and my son, I have never seen him cry, but he cried,” Maksymenko said. “I knew that it was not going to be for a week or two. I wasn’t going to see my family for a long time.”

Maksymenko and her son first moved in with a host family in San Juan Capistrano through the United for Ukraine program. Launched by the federal government last year, it allows Ukrainian citizens fleeing the war to come to the U.S. for a temporary 2-year period. While the program is renewable at the end of those two years, it is not a pathway to citizenship.

“When we came, I saw that my son was suffering from a lack of communication with Ukrainians because everyone was speaking in English,” she said.

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During that “difficult and stressful” time, Maksymenko’s host family helped her find a summer camp for Ukrainian children run out of R.H. Dana Elementary School. The camp was started by Kobylianska.

In May, Kobylianska began the process of bringing her parents to the U.S. to live with her, but she was worried they would be bored. At the same time, she noticed an influx of Ukrainian refugees asking questions in the Facebook group about Ukrainian schools or classes meant for children.

A summer camp was the answer.

When her parents moved to Dana Point, they helped run the camp — after all, Kobylianska’s mother was a teacher for 40 years in Ukraine — and Ukrainian children who had just moved to Orange County found community. The nonprofit Ukrainian American Coordinating Council helped her set up the camp under its umbrella so she could use its 501(c)(3) status, and the RH Dana Elementary School provided a space.

Even her son, Mark, practiced speaking in his parents’ native language.

“(The camp) was a relief for me and a relief for my son,” said Maksymenko.

For just under two months, around 12 children between 5-12 years old spent their days doing art projects, learning chess, practicing the Ukrainian language and conducting science experiments.

At the last class for the summer, the parents and children, Kobylianska said, came together, “They said we need to start it again, and we need to get together and do a school.”

Kobylianska and Maksymenko had become friends by then. And since Maksymenko used to run a school in Ukraine, she planned to join Kobylianska’s mother in teaching.

“We just had to find a place,” Kobylianska said.

The elementary school was not an option as it required expensive custodian fees to use a space on weekends. After having classes temporarily at the Dana Point Senior Center, Kobylianska found a permanent space: a classroom at the Gloria Dei Lutheran Church in Dana Point used for English as second language classes.

The school, for children between 3 -11 years old, is run on Saturdays from 1:30-4:30 p.m., with three classes: Ukrainian language, art and history. Students, over the age of 11, also have the option of enrolling in programming classes and those older than 6 can sign up for traditional Ukrainian dance classes run at the Dana Point Senior Center.

All of the teachers are volunteers and most are refugees from Ukraine, including Maksymenko and Kobylianska’s mother, Nataliia Kobylianska.

“America is a fantastic country,” said Nataliia Kobylianska in Ukrainian. But she still misses her home. In her small town of Kolomyia, everyone knew her and would greet her when she walked on the streets. She misses visiting with her friends and neighbors.

“I miss the sweet water of the well,” said Nataliia Kobylianska.

Nataliia Kobylianska still remembers the day the war started: The former military airport in her town was bombed.

“Everybody was scared, you couldn’t find any people outside,” she said.

The night before, she had watched Russian President Vladimir Putin’s address, when he said he had “no other option” but to launch a military operation, advocating for the “demilitarization and denazification of Ukraine.” That night, Nataliia Kobylianska realized the invasion was going to be “something terrible,” she said, her eyes red welling up with tears.

“Ukraine will stand. Ukraine will win,” said Nataliia Kobylianska.

The three women will mark one year since the Russia-Ukraine war began at the “365 Days Defending Freedom” event at Kaleidoscope Union Market in Mission Viejo, organized by the Ukrainian American Coordinating Council, on Friday, Feb. 24 from 7-11 p.m. The event will also feature an auction to raise funds for Ukrainian defenders on the front lines.

Tickets are priced between $10-$25 and are available on its Eventbrite page.

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