Stranded Ukrainian Refugees

These people are Dennis, Inna, Elena, and David Lytvyneno, and they have been stranded in Turkey by Turkish Air while in transit to the United States

When I married my Ukrainian wife eight years ago, these people became family, and I have had the pleasure of spending time with them and getting to know them and love them.

The Lytvynenkos lived in Dnipro, Ukraine and worked hard to improve their lives there. They invested their life savings into building their home, which they built up from an old foundation with their own hands, doing all of the work themselves--Dennis is very talented at construction. For the first time in their lives, each person had their own bedroom, and a yard with room for a garden. For them, their home was a dream come true.

With the ongoing Russian invasion of their country, they have been forced to uproot and flee their home and their country. They left Ukraine with little more than a few backpacks of personal belongings and headed west to find shelter in the neighboring Nato countries. It was beyond devastating for them.

Thankfully, at that time, Dennis was working abroad and was staying in temporary housing in Lithuania, and his family was able to join him there.

International travel normally requires an international passport, which Dennis, Inna, and David fortunately already, but Elena, Karolina's grandmother, had only her Ukraining domestic passport, which is equivalent to a national state ID. None of the Ukrainian embassies in Europe are processing passport requests, so we are thankful that exceptions were made, and no one was left behind.

On April 21, 2022, The US announced the Uniting for Ukraine program, a process that would allow citizens of Ukraine to come to the United States. The program requires a U.S sponsor and that the Ukrainian citizens arrange their own travel to the United States. Karolina and I provided the sponsorship, and the Lytvynenkos were approved for the program. Thankfully, they accepted Elena's domestic ID. It is unfortunate that it took such terrible circumstances for us to have the opportunity to reunite Karolina with her family.

With their travel authorization documentation and identification in hand, the Lytvyenkos consulted with Turkish Airlines to verify that travel arrangements could be made and booked their flight.

The whole Lytvynenko family worked for nearly two months to earn enough money to fund their flight to the United States. Inna and David joined Denis on the job site doing everything they could to help the family to earn money for the fare. All the while, we prepared a place in our home for them, shuffling bedrooms, buying furniture, and making things comfortable for their long stay.

On June 30, with much excitement, they boarded their flight TK-1408 to the United States from Vilnius to Chicago, with a single layover in Instanbul, Turkey. It was during their layover in Istanbul that our entire plan fell apart. The gate agents from Turkish Air refused to allow Elena to board the plane, ignoring her approved U.S Travel authorization documents and supporting identification papers. They didn't make arrangements for a return flight, and they didn't provide any means for them to continue their journey to the United States.

After hours of discussion with representatives from Turkesh Airlines, we have been left with no remedy. They have refused to arrange for travel out of Turkey, nor are they willing to grant a refund of the $3000 dollars spent on their tickets. Turkish Air sees the transaction as complete and expects the Lytvynenkos to purchase new tickets.

This brings us up to date. The Lytvyneko family is currently stranded in Turkey, essentially homeless, having already given up their apartment in Lithuania, having no support system in Istanbul, and without their own funds to buy a flight to the US or back to Europe.

How you can help:

We need help to support the Lytvynekos in Turkey until the travel and passport issues are resolved and to help fund the purchase of flights for the whole family to the United States.

Their family has invested everything in their escape from Ukraine, and your help would really make a huge difference in their lives.

Donated funds will be redirected to the Lytvynenkos via their Visa cash card to support them while in Turkey and to fund their flights. Any additional funds will be used towards applying for work authorizations, and helping to get them started here in the United States.

Additionally, if you know someone in Turkish Airlines and can help encourage them to show some goodwill, that too would be greatly appreciated.