Daily updates on the Russian invasion of Ukraine are part of the lives of many people on campus, but there are a few students watching a bit more intently. Even though Frisco and Ukraine are thousands of miles apart, several students here on campus have connections to relatives or friends in Ukraine.

“So I have six family members and then I have family friends, but I just have a few family members there because most of them moved back here,” junior Emma Zubov said.

Despite the near-constant Russian attacks, Zubov’s family has been able to stay safe.

“So they’re in bomb shelters and bunkers so they’re mostly all of them are underground,” Zubov said. 

Many of their families members have to make the decision whether to stay in Ukraine.

“My cousin left Kyiv to go stay with my grandma and I talked to my mom yesterday and she was saying that my grandma doesn’t want to leave,” sophomore Karina Grokhovskya said. “[My mom] wants my grandma to leave and go to Slovakia or Poland or just like get out but my grandma doesn’t want to leave.”

But with her grandma staying, it hasn’t been each to stay in contact with her, leaving the future uncertain.

“Right now, I haven’t talked to my grandma in two weeks or so or maybe even three weeks,” Grokhovskya said. “So depending on, how long the war is going to be. I don’t know how long you know, I’ll be able to like talk to her.”