When vibrations from Russian artillery fire and missile strikes were close enough to feel, Tetiana and her husband Serhii decided it was time to evacuate Izyum, Ukraine, located in the eastern part of the country.
Their hometown ended up under Russian occupation for months. When Ukrainian forces retook Izyum, they discovered one of the most notorious mass burial sites of the war.
"It's very scary," said Tetiana, 41, who asked to keep her last name private. "I wanted to just get away, with my husband and my daughter, from that kind of violence. My husband wanted to stay, but I insisted that we go."
FROM THE ARCHIVES | They opened their home to Ukrainians. Now it's time to say goodbye
Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine has forced six million Ukrainians to flee their country, a number that equals about half of the nation's population. By some counts, it is the largest population displacement crisis since World War II
The refugees spread to countries across the globe, including the United States.
Tetiana and Serhii were among 240,000 Ukrainians the Biden administration allowed to resettle in the U.S. for two years so long as they arranged their own travel and registered with American sponsors who helped them find housing and jobs.
Now, with the Trump administration's clampdown on immigration and refugees at large, and deteriorating relations with Ukrainian President Volydymr Zelensky, Ukrainians who built new lives in the states worry they are suddenly at risk of deportation.
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President Trump said he has still not decided whether to cancel protections given to Ukrainian refugees.
"I'm looking at that," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. "And there were some people that think that's appropriate and some people don't. And I'll be making a decision pretty soon."
Trump also said he recognized all that Ukrainians have endured.
"We're not looking to hurt anybody," he said.
Tetiana and Serhii received authorization to stay in the U.S. until April 2026 as part of Uniting for Ukraine, a program for refugees paused by the Trump administration. Tetiana said she now fears they could be forced to leave at any time.
"We'd have to start from scratch," Tetiana said. "The city we are from is in ruins."
Prithvi Mulchandani and his wife sponsored Tetiana and Serhii, helping them find an apartment in suburban Washington. Serhii works as a handyman and Tetiana has a job as a preschool teacher.
"They're adding to our society," Mulchandani said. "We're not taking care of them, they're taking care of themselves. They're the model Americans."
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Revoking the legal protection given to Ukrainian refugees already in the U.S. would turn them into undocumented immigrants at risk of removal by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
"It means that that they'll have probably a pretty short window of time during which time they can choose to leave the country on their own," said Daniel Beers, associate professor of justice studies at James Madison University. "If they chose to stay in the United States, they would be subject to deportation."
Tetiana is working with her sponsors to try to find a legal pathway to stay in the U.S. An executive order signed on Trump's first day in office says they will consider claims from any refugee based on "urgent humanitarian reasons or a significant public benefit."
Several lawmakers in Congress introduced a bill that would allow Ukrainians who came to the country under the Uniting for Ukraine program to stay until conditions allow for their safe return. However, no vote is scheduled for that legislation.
