Ukrainians With New England Ties Withstand Terrifying Moments As Russian Attacks Continue
BOSTON (CBS) – As the world watched the attack on a television tower in the Ukraine city of Kyiv, Anton Bayda watched in horror from his 7th floor apartment.
"It was probably the scariest moment of all of this because our building started shaking," he said.
Bayda's mother, who lives in Beverly, fears for her son's safety. The 41-year-old has a wife and two children in Kyiv. He sent them to a safer location, but he stayed behind to care for his ailing father who can no longer walk.
He says leaving his family was very difficult.
"I am crying when I call them. It's very hard," he said.
Bayda said since the Russian invasion began, he sleeps only three hours a night. Every hour he has to leave his 7th floor apartment and sneak down into the garage under the building for shelter.
"We stay there for 30-40 minutes then go back. Some people stay there all night," he said.
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John Cavanaugh is from Portsmouth, New Hampshire, but has been living in Kyiv since last June. When tensions started to rise, he fled west to a safer region in Lviv, but is still trying to get out of the country.
While he's not seen any violence, Cavanaugh is hearing a lot of air alarms.
"I've been down to the bomb shelter about 20 different times," Cavanaugh said.
The 61-year-old says he's glad he got out Kyiv before the attacks and is amazed of the courage of the Ukrainian people.
"Most Ukrainians will say they will stand in their homes with a gun to the last second," he said.
Some people here actually lost contact with relatives in Ukraine because of the attacks. All they can do now is hope and pray that they are in a secure place or made it out safely.
Meanwhile, Bayda hopes more help will come quickly. But he plans to stand his ground.
"I'm very scared. Six or seven days of invasion of Russia to us and its very scary," he said.