A local Russian couple welcomes nine Ukrainian refugees to Marina.

Dmitry Kisselev is a Seaside resident who, since the Russian attack on major Ukrainian cities in February, has been seeking ways to help. In the nation of 44 million, 1 in 4 Ukrainians are now displaced from home.

Kisselev’s motivation is his own experience as an immigrant from Russia in the late ’90s, as well as the fact that many employees of the Boston-based data science company he works for, DataRobot, are Ukrainians. He and his wife, Marina Kisseleva, were thrilled when in April, the Biden administration announced Uniting for Ukraine, an expedited program to welcome 100,000 Ukrainians fleeing Russia’s invasion to the U.S.

The online platform started to function in July and is operated by Welcome U.S., an American nonprofit founded to help Afghans fleeing Afghanistan after the U.S. withdrawal in 2021. The Welcome U.S. engine matches American “sponsors” who then proceed through the federal government process, first by submitting a Form I-134, or Declaration of Financial Support, for their unusual guests. 

“We are proud to deliver on President Biden’s commitment to welcome 100,000 Ukrainians and others fleeing Russian aggression to the United States,” Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro N. Mayorkas said in a statement. “The Ukrainian people continue to suffer immense tragedy and loss as a result of Putin’s unprovoked and unjustified attack on their country.”

Successful applicants are not refugees. They get permission to stay in the U.S. for two years during which they receive a work permit, food stamps and health insurance. The problem is that in practice, obtaining a work permit might take months after arrival.

Kisselev says he didn’t know how to choose between applicants. “It doesn’t make any sense,” he says about the experience of looking at people’s pictures and stories. “So I just applied for one person.” After a week, his applicant was approved: “And then for another one, and another one.”

As a result, the Kisselevs are bringing nine Ukrainians to Monterey County, all of them expected to arrive by Sept. 1.

“My name is Irada Loginova,” one of profiles about an Odesa family reads. “I am 31 years old, my husband Victor is 41 years old, and our daughter Lolita is 12 years old. I am a makeup artist and cosmetologist. My husband is a truck driver.”

The Loginovs fled Ukraine and were in a Red Cross camp in Spain when they found Kisselev online.

“They say they are hard-working people,” Kisselev says, “but they need English to get employed.” So he already signed them up at Monterey Peninsula College for English classes, paying the enrollment fee for each.

As a sponsor, Kisselev has an obligation to support them until they become financially independent; he could use some help. (To that end, a friend is fundraising via GoFundMe, at bit.ly/UkrainiansinMarina.) So far, the plan is to put the newcomers all together in a house the Kisselevs rented for them in Marina. They will have a refrigerator stocked and basic items ready for them.

The Kisselevs’ biggest fear is “the rumor” that the war in Ukraine will take many years, in which case, there is a chance that in two years they will be sending the same nine people back to where they came from – war.