WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW) — Mickey Cesar was born and raised for much of his early life in Wichita. While he considers Kansas his home, he has no intentions of fleeing his new home in Kyiv, Ukraine.
“My friends are here. My job is here. There’s like nothing left for me in the United States,” Cesar said.
Cesar says he is fearful but prepared in case of a Russian invasion reaching his home in the Ukrainian capital.
“Water could be cut off. Electricity could be cut off. Heating could be cut off. There are possibilities,” he added. “I have enough supplies to get through probably six or seven days.”
Cesar explained that many Americans don’t truly understand the full scope of what is going on.
“What Vladimir Putin is most of afraid of is not NATO [North Atlantic Treaty Organization], it has nothing to do with the military, he does not want his own people to get ideas that democracy can succeed.”
However, as of now though, life is continuing with at least some form of normalcy for Cesar.
“I worked today,” said Cesar. “I’m going to work tomorrow, and I’ll go to work the day after that, God willing.”
Going forward, Cesar believes many Ukrainians want the U.S. and NATO’s help, but not necessarily in the form of troops.
“They want guns, ammunition, and armaments because they will defend Ukraine,” he said.
