GREEN BAY (NBC 26) — 19-year-old Ukrainian exchange student Anastasiia Lehova often plays the piano as a way to clear her mind from the devastating reality in her home country.
“My [home] university destroyed, hospital, theaters,” Lehova said.
Lehova is an exchange student at UW-Green Bay from Mariupol.
That's in the southeast of Ukraine and it has been under siege by Russia for the last month.
"Until today I lose communication with my whole family, my friends, and so on because city now is in black out. And it's super difficult because they [don't have] any water, food, service, heating and all of this stuff,” Lehova said.
She said she hasn't spoken to her family since March 2. Above is a picture of her mom and two younger siblings.
Every time she sends her loved ones a message, there's no response.
"Nothing. It's silent. I wrote a lot of messages in apps like by ordinary message and so on, silence everywhere. Like friends, family, no one," Lehova said. “I haven't communicated with my mother, I just want to speak with my mother. I just want to speak with her."
NBC 26 asked Lehova how she was holding up.
“I’m not okay. I just cry sometimes,” Lehova said.
The piano is the one thing that, for now, is allowing her to have hope.
While she hasn’t heard from her family for more than a month, she says said she is continuing to pray that her loved ones are still alive.
"[My mom is a] super [unpredictable] person, that's why I'm scared. Maybe she walked to the destroyed buildings to see what happened. I hope she's hiding in the basement of a building. I don't really know,” Lehova said. “[Not knowing] is scary.”
Lehova said her student visa is set to expire this May. However, she is working to extend it due to the circumstances in her home country of Ukraine.
