Winthrop Woman Trying To Help 9-Month Pregnant Cousin Escape Mariupol, Ukraine
WINTHROP (CBS) -- Svetlana Savina feels like she is living a split life. At one moment, she is hugging her dogs, speaking to them in Ukrainian, smelling a scented candle in her Winthrop apartment. At the next moment, she is watching horrific cell phone videos from her family members in Ukraine.
"It said Svetlana, the streets smell like death. There are rotting corpses of Russian soldiers," Savina said. "It doesn't feel like I'm doing enough. It's such a horrible feeling."
Savina is particularly worried about her cousin Yuliya. The 27-year-old is nine months pregnant and living in the suburbs of Mariupol with her husband and three other kids. Mariupol has been the target of fierce shelling by the Russian military including a maternity hospital.
"She doesn't have a safe place to give birth to her child. And, if she's going to die, who's going to take care of her three other children?" Savina asked.
Now, the race is on to get Yuliya and her children to the Polish border Tuesday night. Once there, she will give birth on her own as her husband will remain in Ukraine.
Savina said she has sent the family money, called multiple contacts in Poland, and is hoping to find someone to stay with her cousin. She is ultimately seeking immigration assistance to get Yuliya and the children to the U.S.
"I am also considering going to meet her there to assist her in any support I possibly could.
It is a mission that Savina will keep at, even as her pain for her home country persists.
"No matter how much prayers I say, no matter how much positive energy I send, it's just not going away," she said.
