SUNNY ISLES BEACH, Fla. – Yevgeniy Gorbunov, who was born in Kazakhstan, considers himself Russian and moved to the United States 10 months ago.
Gorbunov is a waiter at Sunny Isles Family Fresh, a local restaurant, and has been having a hard time hearing the news on Russia’s attack on Ukraine.
Russian troops launched a wide-ranging attack on Ukraine on Thursday, as President Putin cast aside international condemnation and sanctions and warned other countries that any attempt to interfere would lead to “consequences you have never seen.” https://t.co/8hOzLkJkJ0
— WPLG Local 10 News (@WPLGLocal10) February 24, 2022
“It’s like brother on brother, fighting brothers,” he said.
Gorbunov says it’s hard to describe how much this is affecting those he loves back at home, while his friends from Ukraine continue to message him, describing their fears.
“They say we gonna stay in Ukraine. We gonna stay in Kiev because this is our country,” he said.
At a Russian deli, Andrey Chistyakov who is Russian was sitting with his is best friend Vlad, from Ukraine discussing their country’s state of affairs.
They say they are not surprised by the actions that Russian President Vladimir Putin has taken.
Vlad and Christyakov describe the invasion as a land grab like the 2014 Crimean crisis.
Christyakov says Putin has no business going into Ukraine and he believes that most Russians do not think that is right, going on to describe this as a civil war.