CHANDLER, Ariz. — A Chandler man is stuck in Ukraine watching the Russian military threatening to invade, and his window to escape is getting smaller by the day.
Nathan Pearson has spent the last year in Ukraine with his wife and stepdaughter as they help with sick family members.
When the email came from the US State Department telling Americans they should leave Ukraine, Pearson started to worry.
Not about a possible invasion, he told 12 News he was pretty sure he would find a way to be safe and get out.
Pearson was worried about his wife and stepdaughter who can't rely on the American embassy for help out of the country because they're not citizens.
US law says a foreign citizen who marries an American can become a citizen.
However, Pearson said his wife's paperwork wasn't finished when they had to go to Ukraine. He assumed it would be, but it's been a year and without movement.
"Under normal circumstances, we would just patiently wait," Pearson said. "But this is not a normal situation."
Russian troops have been building strength near the Ukrainian border, and US officials have warned Moscow repeatedly not to invade the former Soviet satellite that is now a sovereign, democratic nation. In turn, Russian officials have blamed the escalation on a war of words from the West.
President Joe Biden said this week he would send US troops to fulfill NATO obligations "in the near term."
Meanwhile, Pearson is watching it play out from Kyiv even as he tries to secure visas for his family.
"There's a lot of people, I think, that don't want to talk about it," Pearson said. "They're nervous about it. There's a lot of people that are just consoling themselves and saying it's not a big deal.”
Pearson said he's reached out and gotten help from Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly's office. And he made contact with someone from US Citizenship and Immigration on Saturday, something he said has been difficult to do.
He's hoping the paperwork gets processed soon and they can all come back to Arizona.
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