PINELLAS COUNTY, Fla. – To most walking along St. Pete Beach, Yulia, Serhi and their children look like any other family on vacation, but the Ukrainian couple knows their family is much more than that.”

“It’s been three weeks since we came here," Serhi said, “We feel secure here. Thanks to the people who surround us here.”

Their desperate escape from Central Ukraine began more than two months ago, leaving good-paying jobs, packing up with they could into just two suitcases and driving away as the bombs started to fall. 

Yulia and her family as they flee their home in Ukraine.

“For me it was also very hard decision to go”, Serhi said, “because I'm supposed to defend my city, but I was very nervous about my children. My children must must have future and there’s no future there right now.”

But they say it was still a hard decision to leave it all behind. 

First escaping to Budapest, they went through several countries and the Caribbean before a Ukrainian church in California got them to America and the generosity of people here in Tampa Bay having spending a few days living along the beach before moving into a more permanent home.

But now the most difficult part of their journey lies ahead as they start all over.

“As soon as we settle our kids in school, we are planning to find a job and we will start our life again,” Serhi said. 

“There is a hope that we go back to Ukraine, but while Putin rules in Russia it is not safe to go back to Ukraine.

If you would like to help Yulia, Serhi and their family, a GoFundMe has been set up for them.