His beloved country drenched in the blood of Vladimir Putin’s dirty little war, the distinguished conductor of Ukraine’s national symphony orchestra sat on a bus that refused to budge for six hours, trapped in the gridlock of refugees carrying frightened crying babies and lugging pet dogs in cages.
“All my life,” said Theodore Kuchar, trying to wrap his head around his harsh new reality, “I never thought of myself as a refugee, until the day Russia attacked Ukraine.”
The distinguished 58-year-old maestro stared out the window of the bus inching toward Poland, wishing he could be anywhere but here, in far western Ukraine, nearly 13 long miles of crowded road between him and safety.