Times Observer photos by Brian Ferry St. Joseph Catholic School students hold up signs they made in support of Ukrainian students who are refugees from the Russian invasion and are staying 700 miles from their home with a Slovakian woman who is friends with Fr. Rick Tomasone on Friday during an assembly.

On Friday, hundreds of Warren County students sent support, love, and prayers across the Atlantic to two children who are refugees from the invasion of Ukraine.

Sasha, 9, and Ivan, 11, sister and brother, chatted with the Warren County students for about 40 minutes.

“I like Slovakia, but still I want to go home,” Sasha said. “We are praying that the war will end. I really want to go home.”

They explained what had happened to them, what it was like fleeing their homeland, and talked about topics important to young people.

The siblings are from Kyiv, but they are staying in Bojnice, Slovakia, with Barbora, a friend of Fr. Rick Tomasone.

Times Observer photo by Brian Ferry St. Joseph Catholic School students watch a Zoom call on the screen in the school’s gymnasium Friday between the school and two Ukrainian students who are refugees staying 700 miles away from their home with a woman who is friends with Fr. Rick Tomasone. On the screen at left are siblings Sasha, 9, and Ivan, 11, with their host, Barbara.

“Barbora played on the 2001 state championship basketball team that I coached at Kennedy” Catholic in Hermitage, Tomasone said.

She went on attend Youngstown State. “During March Madness she would come up and visit with me,” he said.

Eventually, she returned to Europe. But she stayed in touch.

“On Feb. 25, she called and asked if she should take in this refugee family,” Tomasone said.

They both knew the answer. A few days later, Sasha, Ivan, and their mother arrived.

Times Observer photo by Brian Ferry Donation collection bottles from each classroom at St. Joseph Catholic School are filling up. The donations will be sent to Slovakia, to a friend of Fr. Rick Tomasone who is housing three members of a family who have fled their home in Kyiv, Ukraine, in the face of the Russian invasion.

Slovakia shares a border with Ukraine, but Bojnice isn’t close to that border. In all, the trip from Kyiv, through Poland (along Slovakia’s northern border), to Bojnice is about 700 miles. St. Louis, MO, is about a 730 mile drive from Warren, according to Google Maps.

They left days after the invasion began on Feb. 24.

The family traveled for three full days to reach Barbora’s home.

Each class at St. Joe’s came up with a question for Sasha and Ivan.

The children were ready with answers and Barbora, whose English is better and who wasn’t as emotional as the children during the call, repeated their answers to help the St. Joseph students understand.

The kindergarten class asked what they had with them from home. They packed clothes, passports, and necessities.

“They packed their whole lives in one hour,” Barbora said.

Neither mentioned any toys nor stuffed animals among their belongings.

The second graders asked who the children had left behind.

“My father, my dog… my friends — I don’t know,” Sasha said.

Their father could not come with them. “The men cannot,” Barbora said. “They have to stay and fight.”

“They speak every day,” she said. “Every time they can.”

He is a sports commentator for a Kyiv television station.

“They had to leave their dog in the apartment with their dad,” Barbora said.

Whether their friends got away from the city or not, they have no way of knowing. “They left so quickly, they don’t know,” Barbora said.

The third grade asked what it was like when they were leaving.

“When they were leaving Kyiv, they heard the bombs,” Barbora said. “But they couldn’t stop.”

“They drove for eight hours, then jumped on a train,” she said. “There is not enough space on the trains. Everyone is trying to get on it.”

They had to make multiple connections to get to Bojnice. Sometimes, there was space on the floors of the stations and the children could sleep for a few hours before the next stage of their journey.

They left Wednesday morning and arrived Friday evening.

The fifth grade asked Ivan and Sasha about their favorite sports. The children lit up and answered quickly and enthusiastically. “My favorite sports are football – soccer – swimming and basketball,” Ivan said. He held a medal he had won for swimming in front of the camera for the Warren students to see.

“My favorite sports are gymnastics and synchro swimming,” Sasha said.

Barbora said Sasha is a national champion in gymnastics.

Both children earned applause from their new American friends.

She said the children have proven to be very good students. “They started in Slovak school this week.”

Their first grades were A’s.

Both children have classes during the week and athletics after school. They are busy on the weekends, too.

Barbora said Ivan is taking additional classes in mathematics, physics, and chemistry on the weekends.

They do find time for fun.

Ivan enjoys computer games and Sasha is making bead jewelry, she said.

Sasha read some of the last two entries in her journal. “My old kindergarten is broken,” she said. “Several of the homes in my apartment are broken.”

Barbora took over to read Friday’s entry. “More and more area… another street of Kyiv was bombed.”

Tomasone said that, although Warren and Bojnice seem very far apart, “because we care for everybody, that love makes it a lot shorter. We want you to know we will continue to pray for you… for the war to end and for you to return to your home.”

The family is staying strong despite being displaced and divided.

Barbora said the family decided yesterday that they will adopt a child who has lost their parents in the war. “That’s just how big their hearts are,” she said. “This is one of the biggest things I’ve ever heard. They don’t know what’s going to happen, but they know they are going to take in a child.”

After assuring the children he would visit when he could and that they would be welcome at St. Joseph any time, Tomasone concluded the call with a “long-distance blessing.”

The support of children their own age thousands of miles away isn’t the only thing of value St. Joseph is sending to the children.

“I was going to send money,” Tomasone said.

After striking out on his first effort due to technical limitations, he said KeyBank has been very helpful in wiring donated funds directly to Barbora.

He said parishioners responded enthusiastically to the idea of supporting the children. The students have joined in the fund-raising drive. Each class has a jar that is filling up with coins and bills.

As of Friday, local efforts had resulted in Tomasone being able to send $5,266 dollars.

There’s more to send.

In all, “I have a total amount of over $17,000,” he said.