'It's infuriating:' Apex woman fights for sister fleeing Ukraine to be allowed to stay with her in US

Her sister got out of Ukraine in the early days after the invasion, but now she can't get to America.

Air raid sirens blared as Olena Klymyuk waited to board a train out of Ukraine six days into the war.

“Where do we go?" she had wondered. "Maybe let's go back."

She was alone, surrounded by uncertainty and challenges she'd never expected.

"All this time I was alone. In this difficult moment, you want to feel a part of your family," she says.

After traveling for two days through two different countries, Klymyuk ended up in Turkey.

"Just before the war, I got a new job, I was participating in new projects, and life seemed to be like 'Wow, now I got it!'" she recalls. "But, everything disappeared."

With no home to return to, Klymyuk applied for a tourist visa to the US to stay with her sister Lyana Watson, who lives in Apex.

That visa was denied after an interview with an official at the US embassy in Instanbul.

"He told me I don’t have ties anywhere, and I said – my mind, my heart is with Ukraine right now," she says. "Definitely when I get my strength back, I want to go back to Ukraine and rebuild it and help my people."

Watson wants the US to make it easier for Ukrainians to join their families here until it's safe to return. She's posted a plea on social media for people to call their Congress members with that message.

She doesn't understand why her own sister can't come stay with her – especially during an emergency like a war.

"It’s a feeling of unfairness," says Watson. "It’s infuriating. How could my country not let somebody who is related to someone like me, a US citizen, to come at this time?"

The state department says it cannot comment on individual cases.

For now, video chats keep these sisters connected – until policy changes allow an in-person reunion.

"It would be wonderful," says Watson. "It would be so wonderful to hug her and create this feeling of 'You’re home.'"

That home in Apex proudly displays the Ukrainian flag.

Congresswoman Deborah Ross told WRAL News, “My office has heard from several advocates of orphans stuck in the warzone in Ukraine, and I’ve requested expedited visas for these vulnerable children.”

She says she's called on the State Department to expedite adoption procedures and expand immigration statuses for the hundreds of orphans and thousands of children who are living in danger.

"We must also do more to support the growing number of refugees fleeing Ukraine—children and adults alike," she says.

Ross says she's also working with her colleagues to urge the Biden administration to raise the refugee cap and establish priority resettlement categories for Ukrainians so more individuals can access the United States' refugee assistance programs.

"This situation has underscored the urgent need for immigration reform in our country, and we must do everything in our power to address not only this crisis, but to prepare for any crisis in the future," says Ross.