HARTFORD, Conn. (WTNH) — A Connecticut nurse who has family in Ukraine is preparing to help them defend their homes.

Katyrena Pushkar of Newington has three sisters, a brother and her mom, and talks to her family almost hourly back home.

“They can see the missiles flying, they can hear explosions,” she said. “Most of the time when we’re talking, they’re like ‘sorry baby we have to go downstairs to the basement because the siren is going off.'”

“Every time I’m talking to them, I don’t know if next time I will be able to hear from them. Every time they are not answering, I don’t know if they are still alive.”

Her family is all committed to defending their town, their streets and their home from Russian soldiers.

“Sister… one is dentist, one is ENT surgeon and another one is the principal at a school, so three of them were making Molotov cocktails because they said ‘it’s our home, it’s our land, our kids are here, we are not leaving.”

The town where her sister practices medicine was shelled by Russian mortars.

“They have a bunch of people lined up outside the hospital who want to donate blood, because there are so many killed and wounded soldiers there, but they don’t have containers to collect blood.”

Pushkar works as a nurse in Hartford and has been reaching out to her medical friends to see if there is anyone who has blood bags or supplies available to ship back home.

She said it is a difficult task, but would start with Connecticut-based Ukrainian nonprofit Maidan United.

“We can send everything to New Jersey and from New Jersey, this Ukrainian company can actually transport it to Poland and from Poland, volunteers can deliver it and distribute it to Ukraine, to the places where the supplies are most needed.”

If you are interested in donating, click here. Supplies can also be brought to 21 Silas Deane Highway in Wethersfield.