Monday marks three years since Russia invaded Ukraine, and since that day, a number of Ukrainian refugees have landed in North Texas.

"You know it's been three years now, but I still cannot believe that it's happening," Olenka Sokolovska said. "I think of my family, my people, my country. It's my home."

She recalls Feb. 24, 2022, like it was yesterday. At the time, she was working as a teacher with a background in journalism.

"My dad called me at like 5 a.m. and he told me I needed to wake up now, the war started," she said. "Then I came closer to the window, and I saw so many cars and people, they were trying to leave the city."

Initially, she decided fleeing was not an option.

"I thought it was like running away from something," she said. "In the end, when I couldn't actually work because everything was falling apart, I thought, what are my options here?"

Two months after the invasion, the United States government launched a streamlined process called "Uniting for Ukraine" to give Ukrainian citizens fleeing from the war a way to come to the U.S.

Olenka applied and was approved.

With her cat and just a few belongings, that September she started making her way to the Denton County city of Argyle to meet her sponsor.

She has found a temporary job but says getting through every day is still a mental struggle.

"It just hurts so much that sometimes I'm just trying to block myself from everything, just for a couple of days so I can breathe," she said.

She hasn't had a lot of contact with her family.

"Not like I want to," she said. "I'm really close with my mom. She's my angel. It's really hard to go through video calls because of the blackout, drones flying around, the connection is incredibly poor."

She said she feels constant pressure and fear, especially now.

"We've never attacked anyone, we are always fighting," she said. "I am really thankful for everything people have been doing for us here. To feel that support is incredible, but the country has changed a lot. I would probably say I am in survival mode."

For now, she says she's taking it one day at a time and is unsure of what the future will hold.