Facing Russian invasion, reality of war; family with ties to California fights for freedom in Ukraine

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - Ukrainians with ties to California are digging ditches, building bomb shelters, and fighting for freedom as Russian troops push into their town outside of Kyiv.

As the war in Ukraine threatens innocent lives of civilians, Vlad Skots spends his days and nights near Sacramento worrying and wondering about his family members in his home country.

"I want to wake up and think it’s not happening," he said. "It’s still hard to believe. The first thing I do is I just want to check if they’re alive."

Skots is Ukrainian-American and runs a logistics company in Rancho Cordova. He was supposed to be in Ukraine celebrating his father’s 85th birthday in late February. But the Russian invasion happened.

His brothers and parents refuse to seek refuge elsewhere, and are living day by day in a country under attack.

"I’m even kind of surprised they’re so brave in this," Skots said. "They’re dealing with life and death."

A family of farmers, videos and pictures show his brothers using excavators on their land to create trenches to stop the Russian tanks from advancing toward Kyiv.

Trenches are dug outside of Kyiv, Ukraine to stop Russian tanks from advancing on the capitol city.

They’ve also built bomb shelters to house their neighbors who don’t have basements, along with critical supplies.

Skots’ sister-in-law, Anna, said in a video phone call with KTVU that on any night, 16 people, most of whom are children, are sleeping side by side on small mattresses on their basement floor.

At times, she said the routine rockets and explosions brings even the youngest children to tears.

"We told our 4-year-old that the war has started and we have to pray for our safety and she started crying," said Anna Skots. "Everybody just started crying not because we were scared, but seeing her cry [at her age] knowing she experienced war. I’ll never forget that."

Ukrainian children sleep in a basement at a town outside of Kyiv amid the Russian invasion. (KTVU FOX 2)

Just this week, the family captured video following a Russian missile strike on the neighbors’ house, causing a fire. No one was hurt.

As the attacks center on major cities, more than one million people have fled Ukraine since the invasion a week ago.

Skots decided to devote some of his business team to figure out how to get money, medical aid and supplies from the U.S. to Ukraine and neighboring countries dealing with the flood of refugees.

His nonprofit organization, Ukrainian-American House, which typically promotes bilateral working relationships in culture, business, economy and government, has now shifted focus to helping families directly affected by the war.

"Ukrainian people are brave," he said. "They’re fighting for their democracy, for their freedom."

Brooks Jarosz is an investigative reporter for KTVU. Email him at brooks.jarosz@fox.com and follow him on Facebook and Twitter: @BrooksKTVU