Meet the Ukrainian Refugees Being Forced Out of the U.S.
They fled war and experienced the American Dream. Now many Ukrainians must give it all up as their humanitarian parole is set to expire.
Viktoriia Konopatenko and her husband and son are moving to Canada because their humanitarian parole in the U.S. is expiring. (Courtesy of family)
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Oleg Karakash fled the Odesa region of Ukraine in 2023, just a few months after Russia invaded. He obtained humanitarian parole for his family under the Uniting for Ukraine (U4U) program and settled in Crystal Lake, Florida, where he started DoorDashing to save up for his own pressure washing business. “I decided if this is the land of opportunity, we will use it,” Karakash said.
After two years of hustling and door-knocking, Karakash made $60,000 in 2025. “I would do more than $100,000 in my second year,” he told me with confidence, “because it’s just possible. There’s so many jobs waiting.”
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