MARSHALLTOWN, Iowa — A Marshalltown mom is thankful her son and his family were able to flee Ukraine before it was too late.
Carrie Barr's son, Burgess, moved to Ukraine three years ago to marry a woman named Katya, whom he'd met in Europe years earlier.
Katya has two kids from a previous marriage, and the four became a family.
Carrie said the days leading up to her son's family fleeing were stressful.
She said she would message Burgess, urging him to leave. This was based on the news she was seeing here about the potential for Russian invasion of Ukraine.
"And he said 'Mom, it's fine they're not going to invade here,'" Carrie said. "Katya, Burgess' wife, believed that nothing would happen."
Initially, Katya was concerned about their businesses and did not want to leave them behind.
Carrie said her son started to become more concerned when the Ukraine president told his people to stock up on supplies and hunker down.
Becoming extremely nervous, she sent him a text message saying in part: "I am afraid if you do not go very soon, you will have to stay [through] air strikes and who knows when you would be allowed to leave..."
A few hours after sending that message, she said a bomb went off in the city of Odesa, where Burgess lived.
"Of course, there's a terrible fear of what will happen next, but I just had a feeling he'd make it," Carrie said. "He's kind of a scrapper."
After the bombing, Burgess, Katya and the two kids fled to Romania. They boarded a bus that only had two seats available, squishing together to make it work.
Carrie said the ride should have only taken four hours but was extended to 15 because so many people were trying to leave.
Now she's happy her family is all safe but sad for the trouble all Ukrainians are experiencing.
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