Valley native in Ukraine hopes to reunite with wife in 48 hours
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio - As Russian forces step up their brutal assault, Ukrainian and Russian officials resumed peace talks Thursday. They're tentatively agreeing to a temporary ceasefire in some areas to let civilians evacuate and bring food and medicine in.
That news couldn't come at a better time for the son of a Valley realtor who is on a desperate mission to rescue his wife in Ukraine.
Amidst a backdrop of bombings, Kaisi Berick is currently traveling through a Ukrainian warzone, trying to make the ten hour journey to reunite with his wife.
"I figure if If she has to go through it, we'll go through it together, we'll fight together, we'll run together, we'll do whatever is necessary as long as its together, that's what matters to me," Berick said.
Kaisi Berick is the son of George Berick, who owns Century 21 Lakeside Realty. Kaisi's been going back and forth between California and Ukraine, where his wife is from, for the past two years.
She is now at a house on the outskirts of Kyiv, the Ukrainian capitol. Their apartment was close to some that were recently reduced to rubble.
"There are tons of just destroyed residential buildings, commercial buildings, our whole neighborhood was destroyed," Berick said. "Russian troops are looting civilians, cars, stores, houses, it's kind of a mess currently."
Kaisi is carefully maneuvering through the country, traveling only by day. He flew into Poland, rented a car and drove across the Ukrainian border and now has to be very careful as he moves about.
"You have to be strategic, you don't want to be near energy plants, oil fields, airstrips, military outposts or bases, anywhere where Russians might want to take control or strike so I had to kind of maneuver around through the country lands to get to where I need to get," Berick said. "I've gone to certain towns along the way and they were compromised, some of the road and bridges were blown out there and there was constant airstrikes, so then I had to reroute, go to another town. You don't want to be traveling at night because you have bright lights and you're an easy target. Daytime, you can blend in better so I have to make sure wherever I go I can get there within the 8 or 9 hours of daylight we have here left at a time per day."
Kaisi says a window of opportunity has come up to where his wife Veronica can get on a train to get out of the city and he will link up with her where it's safe. He hopes to be with her in the next 48 hours. From there, they hope to escape to Poland.
"Just non-stop explosions and sirens going off all night so there's that but her spirits are very high because she is a patriot here and she believes in her nation and she believes in their will to fight for their land," Berick said.
And Kaisi feels, as a husband, it's not right for her to fight alone.
"When you make vows to someone, that is what your doing, you're vowing to protect them to be by your side through thick and thin, for better or for worse," Berick said. "So, as soon as she started going through this, even though it's not smart for me to come over here obviously to a warzone, I felt like I had no choice as a man. I had to be there to support her, to see her, to get close to her, to help in anyway I can."
Meanwhile, back in the Valley, his family, his father George, can only pray for a safe return.
"Yeah, that is all we can do," George Berick said. "We just have to keep the faith, keep positive and hopefully, well, I don't want to say hopefully, we are going to have a great ending."
A GoFundMe has been set up to help Kaisi in this journey. To help them with flights out of Ukraine, supplies, rent safe houses if needed or just anything to help them stay alive. If you would like to donate, you can click here. One note, the GoFundMe is suspended while the company vets it for scam purposes. It's not just this account, but anything related with Ukraine is under scrutiny.
