Federal Way officials help Ukrainian woman visit mother before her death

Published 2:10 pm Thursday, May 21, 2026

When Iryna Kornychuk learned that her mother had cancer and didn’t have much time, she wasn’t sure if she would be able to return to the United States if she traveled to Ukraine to see her for a last visit.

Kornychuk and her husband, Ivan, moved to the Federal Way because of the war in Ukraine through the Uniting for Ukraine program, more commonly known as U4U. Those in that program have been suffering from processing delays and uncertainty since the Trump administration froze the processing of applications starting almost immediately after taking office.

Through the summer of 2025, some court reversals restarted the processing of some applications, but as of Dec. 2, processing has been paused for all asylum applications from any country (specifically form I-589, the Application for Asylum and for Withholding of Removal).

Since then, the chaotic ups and downs of immigration policy changes and enforcement crackdowns have the whole Ukrainian community on edge, with many in Federal Way now unable to work and stuck in limbo as they wait for renewal of delayed document renewals, according to Vitaliy Piekhotin, local community leader.

“I don’t know where is safe,” Iryna said, referring to the fear of having the U4U program canceled or applications for re-parole denied or delayed.

Other countries have similar attitudes toward refugees as well, Kornychuk said, including Europe. “It’s a mess,” she said.

With all the challenges, she said she is “so grateful for American people” for all of their “everyday support.”

With all this in mind, Iryna was scared she could be separated from her family in the U.S. and stuck in Ukraine if she left to see her mom.

Despite this fear, she knew she had to try. She asked Federal Way Mayor Jim Ferrell, State Rep. Kristine Reeves (D-30) and the President of the Ukraine Association to help her make her case by writing letters of support.

The response was fast, Iryna said: “They did it in one day and I scheduled my appointment. In 30 days I was in Ukraine.”

“People here don’t know the power that a United States mayor can have,” Piekhotin told the Mirror.

He should know — there have been countless times that a letter from Mayor Ferrell has gotten Piekhotin through military checkpoints on the front lines of the war effort in Ukraine.

Piekhotin also just returned from a trip to his home country — his 12th trip in the last four years — although he has lived in Federal Way for over two decades.

This time Piekhotin also brought back a letter of appreciation from the mayor of Rivne, Ukraine, thanking the city for choosing to become sister cities.

The letter also included appreciation for gestures like the proclamation of Ukrainian American Heritage Day and the raising of the Ukrainian flag at City Hall.

As the law stands right now in Federal Way, that flag won’t be flown again, despite the deep meaning it has for people in the local community, due to an ordinance was passed several months ago to stop raising cultural and community flags at City Hall.

The Ukrainian flag is still flying in the sister city room in Federal Way City Hall, where gifts from sister cities fill the walls.

These now include a new addition of a glass-front wooden display case filled with Ukrainian cultural items, including a dress with traditional embroidery from a local Federal Way resident, and an artillery shell that has been laser engraved with the Ukrainian trident emblem and transformed into a vase.

The trident emblem has deep meaning to the community, but can be loosely translated to represent the fight for freedom.

“Ukrainians just want to stop this war. It gives us a lot of woe and tough times,” Iryna told the Mirror. As with many other Ukrainians in Federal Way, she has a loved one on the front lines: her son.

Overseas, Iryna experienced the daily minute of silence that the entire country observes at 9 a.m. where they pray for those who are fighting and give honor to the fallen.

Piekhotin shared his updates from the front lines as he traveled, sharing live videos on social media with his wife documenting the devastation.

In addition to the donations for the sister city display, the couple brought back other artifacts from the front lines, including a sharp piece of melted shrapnel, a Russian drone that had been used to drop an explosive before being shot down and pieces of a wooden statue of a hand holding a dove that had been destroyed.

Piekhotin also brought back a piece of metal with U.S. serial numbers, what was left of a defensive weapon.

Finding this missile highlighted the importance of global allies and the way every U.S. taxpayer is an active part of any military intervention the United States is funding or participating in around the world.

For example, Federal Way taxpayers contributed an estimate of $7,306,946 of the $12 billion in military funding in 2025 alone for Israel’s offensive against Palestine, according to an estimate by USCPR Action.

Holding the piece of broken metal, Piekhotin reflected that it is just one example of why “we can’t say this is not our war.”