Ivan Prodanyk could never have foreseen how his life would change over the past 12 months.
Home for him, his wife and two daughters was Irpin, a suburb of Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv. A lawyer, Mr Prodanyk had worked hard to establish a comfortable life for himself and his family.
“We had a good life. With my partners, we established a law firm from the beginning,” he says. “We didn’t [want] to start our lives all over again.”
But Russia’s invasion of Ukraine changed everything.
When Russian forces entered northern Ukraine via Belarus on February 24 last year, Mr Prodanyk turned on his radio to hear a government official saying troops had reached a town one kilometre away.
“I had a go-bag packed in the car,” he says. The family loaded up and headed towards the Romanian border.
“You just think about how to save your family.”
Luckily for Mr Prodanyk, his parents had emigrated to the US several months before the invasion, and after a short time in New York, had moved to Cleveland, a city in Ohio on the southern shores of Lake Erie.
“It’s a very comfortable place,” says Mr Prodanyk of Cleveland. “There is a lot of trees, a lot of parks. I like that.”
Since the onset of the war one year ago, about 200,000 Americans have applied to sponsor Ukrainians. A little more than 4,000 of those applications were made in the Cleveland area.
Home to large communities of Ukrainian and other Central and Eastern European immigrants for more than a century, Cleveland was pinpointed as a city to where Ukrainians could be resettled by the US federal government.
The government’s designation for Ukrainians who have come to the US since last year is that of “humanitarian parolees”, allowing them to stay in the country for an initial period of two years.
“We’ve seen people from Kherson, Kharkiv. We’ve seen people who already have families here [in Cleveland] coming over here,” says Marta Liscynesky-Kelleher, president of the United Ukrainian Organisation of Ohio, whose own parents immigrated from Ukraine in the 1950s.
Now, some from eastern Ukraine have nowhere to return to.
“Their cities are occupied by the Russians or are completely destroyed; there is no infrastructure, they don’t have a viable city to go back to,” Ms Liscynesky-Kelleher says.
“What they want to do is to work when they are here, with hopes of one day being able to return to their country.”
One year of the Russia-Ukraine war — in pictures
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February 24 will be a year since Russia started the Ukraine war. The National picks out the most powerful images from the conflict. AFP -
A member of Ukraine's 79th Air Assault Brigade fires a rocket-propelled grenade at Russian positions near Marinka in February. Reuters -
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy addresses MPs in Westminster Hall, London, in February 2023. Getty Images -
Destroyed buildings 32km west of the front lines in Donetsk in January. Getty Images -
An anti-aircraft gun in January fires at Russian positions near Bakhmut, Donetsk. Reuters -
Destruction in the village of Bohorodychne, Donetsk. AFP -
A Ukrainian artilleryman discards an empty shell on the outskirts of Bakhmut, eastern Ukraine, in December 2022. AFP -
Children receive presents from a Ukrainian soldier dressed as Santa on Christmas Eve in Sloviansk. Getty Images -
More than 1,000 missiles and rockets fired by Russian forces collected for cataloguing in Kharkiv in December 2022. Getty Images -
The Metro provides shelter as Russia launches another missile attack on Kyiv, Ukraine's capital, in December 2022. Getty Images -
Children at a PE class in Kyiv after Russia abandoned its attempt to seize the capital in November 2022. Getty Images -
A sniper searches for Russian positions on the bank of the Dnipro river in Kherson in November 2022. Getty Images -
Graffiti by Banksy on a wall among the debris in Borodyanka in November 2022. Getty Images -
Ukrainian flags flutter around graves in a cemetery for soldiers killed in action in Kharkiv in October 2022. Getty Images -
Parts of a drone, which Ukrainian authorities said was Iranian-made, after a Russian strike in Kyiv in October 2022. Reuters -
An elderly woman is helped across a damaged bridge in Bakhmut in October 2022. Getty Images -
Fuel tanks ablaze on damaged sections of the Kerch bridge in Crimea, in October 2022. Reuters -
A destroyed bridge makes crossing the Donets river difficult, in Staryi Saltiv, east of Kharkiv, in September 2022. AFP -
Firefighters at a thermal power plant in Kharkiv damaged by a Russian missile strike in September 2022. Reuters -
Ukrainian soldier Oleksandr with his daughter Nikole at Lviv railway station in August 2022. Getty Images -
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and then-British prime minister Boris Johnson read a plaque in Kyiv in August 2022 dedicated to the latter for his support. Getty Images -
Destroyed Russian military equipment on Khreshchatyk street in Kyiv. The materiel was turned into an open-air military museum ahead of Ukraine's Independence Day on August 24. AFP -
Shakhtar Donetsk v Metalist Kharkiv kicks off the Ukrainian Premier League season in August 2022 amid fears of bomb and missile alerts. EPA -
Ukrainian servicemen fire an American-made 155mm M777 howitzer in July 2022 in the Kharkiv area. EPA -
A bomb crater on the Antonovsky bridge across the Dnipro river in Kherson, July 2022. AFP -
Maksym and Andrii with plastic guns at a 'checkpoint' they set up while playing in Kharkiv, July 2022. AP -
Ukrainian troops on Snake Island in June 2022. Reuters -
A woman evacuated from an area of conflict in June 2022 contemplates what the next move might be. AP -
Romanian President Klaus Iohannis, Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Kyiv in June 2022. Getty Images -
Graves in Irpin cemetery, May 2022. Getty Images -
A Ukrainian soldier trapped within the besieged Azovstal Iron and Steel Works complex in Mariupol in May 2022. Reuters -
The wreckage of a Russian helicopter in a bomb-cratered field in Biskvitne, May 2022. Getty Images -
A Ukrainian army officer inspects a grain warehouse shelled by Russian forces in May 2022 near Novovorontsovka, Kherson. Getty Images -
A boy from Mariupol arriving at an evacuation point in Zaporizhzhia in May 2022. Getty Images -
A Russian serviceman on guard outside Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station in May 2022. AFP -
Oksana searches for salvageable items on the destroyed second floor of her home in Hostomel, April 2022. Getty Images -
A floral memorial wall in Lviv for Ukrainian civilians killed during the Russian invasion, April 2022. Getty Images -
People fleeing Lviv, eastern Ukraine, in April 2022, wait for a bus that will take them to Poland. Getty Images -
A Russian soldier patrols a bombed Mariupol theatre in April 2022, as Moscow intensified its campaign to take the strategic port city. AFP -
A Ukrainian celebrates success in Hostomel in April 2022. Getty Images -
Julia Palovskaya reads to children during an air raid drill in the basement shelter at a preschool in Lviv, April 2022. Getty Images -
Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Bucha in April 2022, where hundreds of bodies were found in the street and it was claimed the Russian leadership was responsible for killing civilians. AFP -
Oleh Smolin, 23, who suffered leg injuries from Russian shelling in April 2022, in hospital in Chuhuiv. Getty Images -
Fleeing refugees arrive at the border train station of Zahony, Hungary, in March 2022. Getty Images -
A father says goodbye to his daughter on an evacuation train about to leave Odesa in March 2022. AFP -
Ukrainians under a destroyed bridge as they try to cross the Irpin river on the outskirts of Kyiv in March 2022. AP -
People cram into Kyiv station to catch trains to Poland or to western parts of Ukraine, shortly after the initial invasion in February 2022. Getty Images -
A demonstration in support of Ukraine in Trafalgar Square, London, February 2022 . Getty Images -
Russian army vehicles in Armyansk, Crimea, in February 2022. AFP -
Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv on February 25, 2022, in a video on Facebook. He said 'we are all here', shortly after the Russian invasion began. AFP -
A residential building damaged by a missile strike in Kyiv in February 2022. Getty Images -
A metro station in Kyiv in February 2022, crowded with people trying to escape the invasion. AFP -
A police officer addresses people gathered to protest against the invasion of Ukraine, in central Saint Petersburg, Russia, February 2022. AFP -
A protester in support of Ukraine, in Berlin, Germany, in February 2022. Getty Images -
Ukrainian soldiers prepare to repel an attack in Ukraine's Lugansk region on February 24, 2022. AFP -
Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv on February 24, 2022, after Russia launched a full-scale invasion. AFP -
A mass exodus from Kyiv after pre-offensive missile strikes by Russian armed forces on February 24, 2022. Getty Images -
Security personnel inspect the remains of a shell in Kyiv on February 24, 2022, soon after Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a military operation in Ukraine. AFP -
CCTV footage shows Russian military equipment crossing a Crimea border checkpoint on February 24, 2022. AFP -
Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin early on February 24, 2022, when he announced a 'military operation' in Ukraine. AFP
Global Cleveland, a non-profit that has helped tens of thousands of immigrants from around the world settle in the north-east Ohio region over the past 15 years, has played a leading role in assisting recent arrivals from Ukraine.
Joe Cimperman, president of Global Cleveland, says the organisation has helped more than 500 people since the invasion.
“We’ve had at least 300 come to us for free legal advice, and many others come to our office asking if we could help them with housing,” he says.
Cleveland, where this week a host of cultural and other events are being held to commemorate and highlight the war's first anniversary, was a natural choice for Mr Prodanyk and his family to resettle.
Today, he works as a case manager for the US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants, assisting Ukrainians who have resettled in the area to connect with employers and meet other essential needs.
“The people who have come over are very proud,” he says. “All they want to do is to find a job.”
His daughters, he says, are thriving at school alongside a large contingent of other recent arrivals from Ukraine.
Still, while efforts to help have come from a variety of community resources, challenges remain.
News reports suggest that local schools do not have sufficient language resources to meet the immediate needs of children coming from Ukraine.
Perhaps more pressing is the two-year time limit — an unsettling countdown for many.
“We don’t want it to be the case that they are coming up on two years and they don’t have the ability to be able to stay for an extended period,” says Ms Liscynesky-Kelleher. “Hopefully those things are being thought through.”
It is a sentiment foremost in the minds not only of Ukrainians and support networks, but Cleveland-based companies.
“I speak to employers [of Ukrainian immigrants] and they tell me: ‘I want to pay for their education and training, but I need to know that they will still be here in two years, and beyond that,’” says Mr Prodanyk.
As the US continues to be gripped by a widespread labour shortage, some immigrant specialists suggest that the parole time period may be extended.
In Cleveland, assistance organisations and immigrants alike appear to be becoming more comfortable with their new respective realities.
Spurred by the federal government’s announcement last month of a new refugee sponsorship programme called Welcome Corps, which allows private individuals to sponsor immigrants, local churches are increasingly reaching out to help.
“We have more and more families who want to adopt Ukrainian immigrants,” says Mr Cimperman.
“I think you’re going to start to see a lot more movement of people coming here because they’re basically decentralising the way that we can bring people over.”
Nations show support for Ukraine — in pictures
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Supporters hold a Ukrainian flag at a solidarity march to mark the first anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, in Budapest, Hungary. Reuters -
A protest to mark the one-year anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, in Berlin. Reuters -
Supporters in front of Helsinki Cathedral during Light for Ukraine candlelight memorial event at Senate Square in Helsinki, Finland. Reuters -
Representatives stand for a moment of silence during the United Nations Security Council meeting on the maintenance of peace and security of Ukraine at the UN headquarters in New York. AFP -
Britain's Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and his wife Akshata Murty, with Ukrainian ambassador to the UK Vadym Prystaiko, centre, his wife Inna and members of the Ukrainian Armed Forces outside 10 Downing Street in London, as they observe a minute's silence. AP -
The Portuguese Parliament is lit with the blue and yellow of the Ukrainian flag, in Lisbon AP -
The Tokyo Metropolitan Government building is lit with the Ukraine national flag colours. Getty Images -
Supporters carry Ukrainian flags during a demonstration in Bangkok. EPA -
Ukrainian volunteers take part in prayers and observe a minute of silence, in south-east England. Getty -
Protesters near the Russian embassy in Seoul, South Korea. EPA -
People lay flowers at a monument of Ukrainian poet, writer, artist, public and political figure Taras Shevchenko, in Almaty, Kazakhstan. AFP -
The Eiffel Tower in Paris is lit up in the colours of Ukrainian flag. EPA -
Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo speaks alongside the Ukrainian ambassador to France, Vadym Omelchenko, during the event. AFP -
Watching video-mapping on the Czech Interior Ministry building, in Prague. EPA -
A woman expresses her solidarity with Ukraine at the Czech National Theatre, in Prague. EPA -
Activists place candles forming the peace sign in front of the Brandenburg Gate, in Berlin. AP -
A police officer raises the Ukrainian flag in front of the state parliament of Saxony-Anhalt in Magdeburg, Germany. AP -
A Vilnius University building is illuminated in blue and yellow in support of Ukraine, in Vilnius, Lithuania. AP -
Ukrainian flags placed over the graves of fallen Ukrainian soldiers in a military cemetery in Kharkiv, north-eastern Ukraine. EPA -
A commemoration event with a light installation at the Field of Mars cemetery where hundreds of Ukrainian soldiers are buried, in Lviv, western Ukraine. Getty -
Friends and relatives of fallen Ukrainian soldiers take part in a prayer as Rays of Memory illuminate the night sky over Lychakiv military cemetery in Lviv. EPA -
Rays of memory illuminate the sky over Lychakiv military cemetery in Lviv. EPA -
The National Opera of Ukraine building illuminated by Swiss artist Gerry Hofstetter in the colours of the Ukrainian flag, in Kyiv. Getty -
A woman takes selfies in front of The National Opera of Ukraine, illuminated by Swiss artist Gerry Hofstetter. Getty -
A candlelit vigil in front of the Russian consulate, in New York. Reuters -
Candles lit outside the Russian consulate in New York during a vigil to commemorate children killed in Ukraine. AFP -
A silent candlelit vigil in New York. Reuters -
A Trafalgar Square vigil organised by the Ukrainian and US embassies in London. AP -
A vigil for Ukraine at Trafalgar Square in London. Reuters -
The Trafalgar Square vigil. Reuters -
Crowds gather at Trafalgar Square. AP -
The Ukrainian ambassador to the UK, Vadym Prystaiko, addresses the London vigil. Reuters -
British Defence Secretary Ben Wallace speaks at the vigil. PA -
Actress and activist Helen Mirren addresses the London vigil. PA -
Teddy bears and other toys left by Ukrainian refugees and members of the Avaaz global activist network at Schuman Roundabout, in front of the European Commission, in Brussels. AP -
The EU Council and Commission buildings illuminated in the colours of the Ukrainian flag. EPA -
Governor of the National Bank of Ukraine Andriy Pyshnyi holds banknotes marking the first anniversary of Russia's invasion on Ukraine, in Kyiv. Reuters -
Supporters gather at St Mary's Cathedral Square during the 365 Days Strong rally and candlelight vigil in Sydney. Getty -
France's ambassador to Ukrain Etienne de Poncins, left, and the French Culture Minister Rima Abdul-Malak visit Independence Square in central Kyiv. AFP
