EXCLUSIVE: 'Trump was Aggressive on Evil and Biden is weak - Putin's taking advantage.' New York Actress Tearfully describes Call With Her Cousin in Ukraine as the family packed up to Drive Eight Hours to Poland Seeking Refuge
- New Yorker Elena Sobina, 45, told DailyMail.com she feels helpless as family and friends are in the battle zones of the Russian war on Ukraine
As Putin's military bears down on Kyiv, a Ukrainian actress living in
New York City spent Friday morning on the phone with her cousin Irina, who was in Ukraine's capital packing up her two daughters and embarking on an eight-hour drive to Poland.
Irina's 55-year-old husband plans to drop them off at the eastern border, then return to Kyiv to fight to protect their homeland from Russia.
The cousin in New York, Elena Sobina, 45, recalled the story in an interview with DailyMail.com Friday and said she feels helpless as family and friends suddenly find themselves in the battle zones of the Russian war on Ukraine.
New Yorker Elena Sobina, 45, told DailyMail.com she feels helpless as family and friends are in the battle zones of the Russian war on Ukraine
'The sanctions don't stop that evil,' said Sobina, who lives in Upper Manhattan. 'They need real help, military help.'
Sobina is in Panama this week on a family vacation but spending her trip on the phone with panicked relatives in Ukraine, including the cousin she considers a sister.
'She tried to be strong yesterday,' Sobina said. 'She's not strong anymore. She said she can't stop shaking.'
She said Irina began her day scrambling to get cash for her evacuation, but banks were closed. They wanted to fly out of Ukraine, but that was impossible.
'They were trying to get to the airport, but she said they have tanks and missiles standing in the town, with threats to shoot down planes,' she said. 'The whole airport is disabled.'
'If hate ever comes into my heart, I try to take it away because to hate people is the worst,' she told DailyMail.com. 'But right now, I feel so much madness toward Russia.'
She said she refuses to even speak with acquaintances who support Russia and its actions, and she criticized a friend who dismissed the war as 'just Ukraine and Russia.'
She criticized President Biden's leadership on the crisis, likening it to his evacuation last year of U.S. military from Afghanistan.
'My opinion, and I'm not afraid to say it anymore, is that Biden is a very weak person,' she said. 'It seems like he's afraid to fight. I feel like Trump was more aggressive on all kinds of evil, and Biden is weak. Putin's taking advantage of a president who will not fight over this.'
New York actress tearfully describes call with her cousin in Ukraine | Daily Mail Online