Ukrainians living in Camden are concerned for their family and friends in Ukraine. Mike Katrutsa, of Camden, recently returned to Tennessee earlier than expected after a three-month visit to Ukraine.
Owner of “Mike’s Produce,” Katrutsa provides most of this area with strawberries and other produce during the growing season, then travels back to Ukraine through the winter months, staying with relatives. He has been living in Camden since he was 14 years old.
Katrutsa’s mother Alette Hargis came to Camden from Ukraine 16 years ago. Both Katrutsa and Hargis are now naturalized U.S. citizens. Married to USDA-FSA County Director Mark Hargis, she is a foreign language teacher at Camden Central High School. Her home in Ukraine is in the area of Cheinigove (Chernigov), 20 miles from the Russian border and approximately 100 miles north of Kiev.
“The city is gone, but my relatives live out in the country, so they are okay,” Katrutsa said, explaining that it is hard for them to leave their homes and everything they have.
Extremely emotional about what is happening to her countrymen, Hargis wants everyone to know the truth about what is going on in Ukraine.
“It’s just terrible,” said M. Hargis on Tuesday. “The 5-story apartment building Mike and Alette lived in prior to moving was destroyed yesterday. The apartment they owned was on the second floor. The news showed a mother and children who were killed during the attachs.”
“Putin is afraid of Ukraine because it has freedom of speech, choices, and is a Christian nation,” she said, emphasizing how much she loves the U.S. and its freedoms. “This could happen here if we lose our freedom of speech. The Russian people don’t know what is happening, only what they are told by the state-controlled media.”
Hargis related that Ukraine is a peace-loving country, and there have been no conflicts along the borders of the two countries. “Putin sends instigators in and starts trouble where there is none. Even the Russian army is being demoralized, forced to leave all cell phones behind as they cross the border,” Hargis said.
Mary Jo Medlin, of Camden, and her late husband Bud, served as missionaries in Ukraine for 15 years, staying a month or more each year. “We haven’t been since 2008, and I have not heard from anyone recently,” Medlin noted. “Sometimes we stayed one month in Russia and one month in Ukraine. The people are really nice in both countries and do not want this conflict.”
Medlin noted that they stayed mostly in Kremenchuk in Ukraine, sort of the middle of the country, and traveled by train throughout the country.
“Even though we required a translator, English is taught there from the third grade up. Bud taught from the Bible as history. Some of them had never seen the Bible,” Medlin said. “It is such a peaceful country, after a couple of years we didn’t even have to have visas.”
Although many of the towns in Ukraine have been destroyed, Katrutsa and Hargis said they have maintained contact with their relatives and appreciate all that the U.S. is doing for them. Hargis said they have a proud heritage, being able to trace their ancestors back to 1654 to the medieval state of Kievan Rus’.
“This is where my dad is buried,” she said. “We want to stay a democratic country and not go back to communism.”
