Local business owner weighs in on Ukrainian-Russian Invasion

PANAMA CITY, Fla. (WJHG/WECP) -Yarosalva Snitsar comes from Vinnytsia, a city in Ukraine. The Terra Bella Soaps and Such owner has been a Panama City resident for 20 years.

For her watching what’s taking place overseas, has been very emotional.

“It’s absolutely devastating, we’re in shock,” Snitsar said.

Currently, she still has friends and family in the country’s capital of Kyiv.

“My friends are saying it’s like a nightmare we want to wake up from because nobody expected it. And it’s really nasty what happened,” Snitsar said.

The business owner says she’s heard the streets are very unsafe at this time.

“We have missiles in the streets, we have missiles in the cars, we have dead people on the streets from the missiles, and it’s absolutely real, and it has to be stopped,” Snitsar said.

She says it took several hours before she was able to get through to members of her family.

“I did not hear from my dad for 48 hours, but I just spoke with my aunt. All she said on the question are you alive? She said yes, that’s it,” Snitsar said.

As far as what she feels needs to happen next.

“We hope Russia turns around and goes away and never comes back and lets us be. We’re a peaceful country, we want our history, we want our land. We want people not to tell them what to do. We’re an independent country. It was our borders it should not be violated. We want peace,” Snitsar said.

Now more than ever, the local owner is asking those in our area and across the world too, “please pray for Ukraine, please be with us if you can help anything. Please do because we can use it,” Snitsar said.

She says although her country may not have enough people, she says they plan to fight no matter what in an effort to avoid Vladimir Putin’s Regime.

With everything going on, the local business owner says her father, who recently had open-heart surgery donated the money he would have used for his medications, instead of to Ukrainian Army Support.

She plans to donate half of the proceeds from her business to help Ukraine and its people with food and needed necessities.

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