Ukrainian refugees fill US jobs, housing a year after Russian invasion

The Russian war against Ukraine has no end in sight and dozens of refugees continue to pour into the U.S. each month. The Department of Homeland Security says more than 300,000 Ukrainian refugees have come to the U.S. since the war began over a year ago.  

In Minneapolis, refugee children go to local public schools and refugee families stay in uptown rental apartments and work 12-hour shifts. 

On Wednesday, March 22, Ukrainians Oleg Myniv and Alina Zinnyk touched down at the Minneapolis airport to begin a new life in the U.S. The two had been in Poland since the war began. They’re greeted by two other Ukrainian refugees who helped them pack their luggage into a van, off to meet their new roommates. 

The two will be sharing a home near the University of Minnesota with a group of other Ukranian refugees who have come to the states in the last few months. The home is owned by American Service in Ukraine, a Minneapolis non-profit founded after the war began that connects refugees with housing and jobs. Families stay in the fraternity-like home for two to three months, before making enough money to afford their own apartment.  

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"Currently, we have over 100 people who are slated to arrive over the next 30 days. A lot of it depends on when flights are available," American Service in Ukraine Executive Director Aswar Rahman said. 

The house in Dinkeytown has been home to 51-year-old Ukrainian Iryna Hrebenyk for nearly two months. She never believed she would be in Minneapolis without her children a year after Russia invaded her home country.  

"My daughter, she is in Poland right now with her husband and baby, so they are safe," Hrebenyk said. "My son and my mom are still in Ukraine." 

Her priority now is to bring her son to the United States, but she said men under 60 are being rounded up in cities to fight for their country.

In the U.S., Hrebenyk shares a room with 38-year-old Nataliia Semeniuk. For her, it’s like the college rooming experience she never had in Ukraine as a hairdresser. The two roommates work 3, 12-hour shifts a week at a Home Depot Warehouse about 45 minutes outside the city. 

"She is succeeding on forklift. She is 100 times better than me," Hrebenyk said of her roommate Semeniuk. 

The Ukrainian people in the house have become Hrbenyk’s family. 

"I have such an amazing experience in my life with these people who came to this country," Hrebenyk said through tears. Immediately, her roommate Semeniuk and housemate, Sofia Rudenko, grab for her hands to comfort the woman who’s taken on a mom-like role for many. 

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Rudenko is just 22 years old. She works 36 hours at Home Depot a week and is a full-time director of operations for the non-profit American Service in Ukraine. She helps vet and coordinate with Ukrainians who are hoping to come to America through their program. 

"You get a feeling of homesick of course, and you do need to have support," Rudenko said. "American evening is the most lonely, because its night in Ukraine."

Rudenko saves up her money from Home Depot and the non-profit to send to her parents in Ukraine. She hopes one day her mother will join her, but she doesn’t want to leave behind her pets.   

The Department of Homeland Security says more than 128,00 refugees have been admitted through the Biden administration's Uniting for Ukraine program, which allows Americans to sponsor Ukrainians to prove they will be financially supported in the U.S. Another 167,000 refugees and more have come in through traditional refugee programs or by crossing the U.S.-Mexico border.    

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The non-profit has eight Ukrainian nationals who are staff members scattered all over Europe. 

"We do a lot of interviewing, a lot of vetting to make sure somebody will succeed when they get here. And from meeting us to arriving here on average, about two to three months that it takes for somebody to get to the United States," Rahman said. 

The organization currently runs on charitable donations and direct contributions from Minnesotans, but Rahman is hoping that American businesses that benefit the most will eventually take over the brunt of the costs. 

"We don't encourage our people to take government welfare programs, not because there's anything wrong with that, but because it creates a system of reliance on these programs," Rahman said. "Also, our people work way too hard to take anything for free. So, a job is the best way for them to build the life they want."

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The group is working with trade unions and other large corporations in the Minneapolis area to offer more jobs for refugees. They’re currently seeking out more opportunities for these refugees from the private-business sector.

"The money they're making for themselves, the majority of it, they're going to send back to their families back in Ukraine, where they're going to invest right back into our communities," Rahman said. 

The organization is sending a group of Ukrainian refugees to help with relief efforts in Mississippi after a tornado killed 26 people there. They say they know what it’s like to be displaced from their homes and want to give back to the country that’s helped them so much.