Russia’s war against Ukraine is finally sinking in. Strangely, I’m not escaping my Russian identity.

For many days and several weeks, I experienced and expressed my shock and pain over the war in Ukraine. The shock wasn’t from watching CNN. It was from hearing my mom cry in anger and despair. We have close relatives in Ukraine. A couple of weeks ago I was next to my Mom (I managed to get her out of Russia) as she spoke to them — it was heartbreaking to hear their stories of despair, their tears, their tragedy.