An American leaves Ukraine to return

Aaron Bray is a San Diego native who’s lived the last couple of years in Kharkiv, Ukraine, after a stint with the Peace Corps. And now, alongside over a million Ukrainians and foreigners, he’s had to flee the country in the wake of Russia’s invasion.Today, we hear Aaron’s first-person story about what it was like to leave his adopted home behind … and why he says he’s going back.More reading:Read the L.A. Times’ full coverage of the war in UkraineCosta Mesa couple barely escape Ukraine with days-old newbornCommentary: ‘I’m scared, bro’: Inside Ukraine, through the harrowed eyes of two U.S. athletes‘A lot of innocent people will die’: Ukrainians in California decry Russia’s attack‘When there are troubles, we go to God’: Ukrainian Americans gather in grief at L.A. church