WEST BLOOMFIELD, Mich. (WWJ) -- Members of Southeast Michigan's sizable Ukrainian community have expressed fear, dismay and outrage as military attacks by Russia continue in Ukraine.
But how are Russian Immigrants in Metro Detroit reacting?
"Russians feel tremendous heartbreak and shame that it's actually happening, and no one is able to stop it," said West Bloomfield resident Eugenia Ioffe, who works for the Detroit Express, a Russian language community newspaper.
"I myself, and a lot of political experts, Russian journalists, Russian public for the most part...doesn't support (Russian President Vladimir) Putin, right? Everyone did not believe that it would actually happen until it happened, because it's just too surreal to be true. It's just too detrimental to everyone there."
Speaking to WWJ Newsradio 950's Greg Bowman, Ioffe painted a picture of a well-mixed Russian-Ukrainian community in the U.S.
Ioffe said she, like most Russians, has family in both Russia and Ukraine, and many Ukrainian friends.
"Half of my friends here are Ukrainians. My own sister, my older sister, she's half Ukrainian," Ioffe said. "You can't separate Russians and Ukrainians that much. We all share the same roots, culture, language."
This conversation came as Russian troops bore down on Ukraine's capital Kyiv on Friday; the Associated Press reporting that it's unclear at this point how much of Ukraine remains under Ukrainian control, and how much or little Russian forces have seized since the incursion began early Thursday.
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Ioffe said her newspaper hasn't begun to write about the situation in Ukraine, as they're still trying to process the reality.
She wants to make one thing clear: "It's not Russia's war, it's Putin's war. No one actually knows what's going on in his mind," she said. "You always have to separate people from politics, and regime from people. (This war is) not what people want. People just want normal, peaceful lives."
Russians and Ukrainians alike, she said, are "hostages and victims" of Putin's regime.
Bowman asked Ioffe if there is hope that the American government will step in to help Ukraine.
"I don't know if anyone needs to get involved. We don't know what's gonna happen. We don't even know what the plan is Like, no one knows what's the purpose of it. It's too irrational... We don't know; Russians don't know."
While she's free to speak her mind on these issues in the U.S, she said it's not the same for those she knows in Russia.
"People are trying to protest on the streets, and they're being detained and arrested," Ioffe noted.
"I just want people to understand...no one wants that war. It feels like it's just the decision of a mentally challenged person."
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