KALAMAZOO, Mich. (WOOD) — A native of Ukraine now living in Kalamazoo was stunned by Russia’s invasion and is now scared sick for her loved ones.

“My mom yesterday, she did wake up from the sound of planes taking over the military,” Yuliia Sergeeva said. “She’s terrified. She’s a physician, so she had to go to work. She continues going to work. … They try to release most of the patients that don’t need urgent care.”

“It’s been terrifying,” she continued. “We didn’t believe that (the invasion) would happen. For a long time, it’s just been Western media exaggerating. Starting Monday, it got really scary when (Russian President Vladimir) Putin had that one-hour speech when he was rewriting history, saying horrible things.”

Sergeeva is from the city of Mykolaiv in the south of Ukraine, off the Black Sea. She has friends in Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital, which Russian soldiers are advancing on and which U.S. officials fear could fall within days. For the last two days, she said, she has been in near constant contact with them, getting updates on where they are, their families and what they are seeing.

“I’m talking to my family and friends basically 24/7. It’s a seven-hour time difference, so when I go to sleep, I will wake up — most of this stuff happens in the morning,” she said. “For the second night, I’m afraid to go to sleep because I don’t know what I will wake up to.”