As Russia’s invasion of Ukraine continues, evacuees are worried about the fate of friends still in the country.
Day and Kathie Mount of Falmouth have a daughter who’s lived in Kyiv for the last year and a half with her husband, who is a diplomat, and their three sons.
They were ordered to evacuate in January, but they had trouble finding a flight that could accommodate all of them — including the family dog, Taiga.
The Mounts' daughter, Juliet Johnson, flew out with the children — Everett, Miles and Forrest — and Taiga. Her husband, Timothy Johnson, evacuated about a week later.
Now, Juliet is trying to help their Ukrainian friends.
“She's trying to get car keys to somebody else who's trying to leave,” her mother, Kathie Mount, said. “They have a car there they don't need.”
When the Johnsons left, all they could pack was what fit in their suitcases.
“Their household effects are still there,” her father, Day Mount, said. “Their car’s parked in the garage.”
When they evacuated in January, they didn’t expect Russia to attack Kyiv directly.
“They thought this would be worked out, and they would be going back,” Day said. “The fact that Kyiv was actually attacked — this was not something that they expected or thought would happen.”
Kathie said seeing friends in peril is especially hard on the children.
“[Their] youngest son, Forrest, has a friend who’s caught at the border of Romania,” she said. “He doesn’t know if he can get in … or if the Ukraine will let his father leave, because his father's of fighting age.”
The Johnsons settled outside Washington, D.C., where they've met other families who’ve been evacuated from Ukraine and Afghanistan.
Meanwhile, the Falmouth-based grandparents participated in a recent demonstration on the Falmouth Village Green supporting Ukraine.
Day Mount, himself a former U.S. ambassador to Iceland, said Americans need to stand up and show they care.
