A Ukrainian mother taking refuge in Montana is being forced to send her toddler daughter back to the war-ridden country. 

Zhanna Kulahina, 26, and her three-year-old, Maria evacuated to Bozeman through the United for Ukraine program in August 2023. 

‘We lived a happy life, and unfortunately, the war changed everything. Every night when we heard bomb and yes, we tried to be in a bomb shelter or basement, wherever I can find a safe place for Maria,’ she told KBZK. 

‘Maybe we can be a victim of this war.’  

Since then, the single mother has been working as a dental technician, volunteering at Bozeman Health and studying to become accredited to practice dentistry in the US while Maria attends preschool. 

However, Zhanna’s ex-husband who lives in their home country filed a lawsuit against her, claiming that she had kidnapped Maria. 

After months of a legal battle, the United States District Court Judge Donald Molloy ruled Maria should return to her father in Ukraine two days before Christmas. 

‘If she returned to Ukraine, she could die there. It’s a really terrible situation because it’s my child, it’s my baby. 

However, Zhanna’s ex-husband who lives in their home country filed a lawsuit against her – claiming that she had kidnapped Maria 

‘If she returned to Ukraine, she could die there. It’s a really terrible situation because it’s my child, it’s my baby,’ Zhanna said

‘We are in a safe place now; how do we return to Ukraine where so many children and babies die? I can’t imagine how it’s possible,’ Zhanna told KTVH. 

According to the court order, Maria will need to return to Ukraine by February 3. 

Neighbors have quickly banded together to help the mother and daughter with legal costs and provide emotional support. 

A GoFundMe was launched soon after the lawsuit began to provide aid for the pair.  

‘Zhanna was peacefully rebuilding a life for herself and her daughter until this past August, when she was unexpectedly served with a lawsuit brought by her ex-husband (who continues to reside in Ukraine) which claims that Zhanna abducted their child,’ the description reads. 

‘The ex-husband’s case, which was filed in federal district court, suggests that Zhanna illegally removed their daughter from her country of habitual residence and required that she return to Ukraine — regardless of the grave risk of such a move. 

‘The federal judge in this case was aware that the ex-husband willingly escorted Zhanna and her daughter to the train station in their hometown of Odesa two years ago so that they could flee to neighboring Moldova. 

‘The judge also knows that, on average, Odesa gets hit with a missile, drone strike, or bomb every sixth day, and he knows that air raid sirens go off no less than once every three days in the other cities. 

 After months of a legal battle, the United States District Court Judge Donald Molloy ruled Maria should return to her father in Ukraine two days before Christmas

Neighbors have quickly banded together to help the mother and daughter with legal costs and provide emotional support

‘A return to an existence that is defined by fear of air raid sirens and explosions would be deeply damaging for both Zhanna and her child. It’s unfathomable. 

‘It is our understanding that the ex-husband has hired an attorney pro bono to represent him. Because the case involves a complicated international human rights dispute in federal court, dozens of expert witnesses, multiple translators and two local lawyers, it will be a financially costly one, to say nothing of the emotional toll it will surely take on Zhanna and her daughter.’

As of now, the crowdfunding page has raised $645 toward its $14,000 goal. About $34,000 has already been raised by friends for the duo. 

It remains unclear if Zhanna will try to have the decision appealed. 

On Friday, President-elect Donald Trump announced he has pushed back his deadline for ending the Russia-Ukraine war despite having vowed to end the conflict within ’24 hours’ of becoming president.

The US president-elect now aims to end the war against Ukraine within 100 days of his inauguration, Keith Kellogg, Trump’s choice for special Ukraine peace envoy, told Fox News on Wednesday.

‘This is a war that needs to end, and I think he can do it in the near term,’ Kellogg, 80, added, defining ‘near term’ as just over 14 weeks out from inauguration.

The comments come after Trump revealed in a press conference that he would not launch peace talks until after he takes office on January 20.

According to the court order, Maria will need to return to Ukraine by February 3

This is despite having repeatedly pledged during his campaign to end the war as soon as he was elected.

‘People need to understand, he’s not trying to give something to Putin or to the Russians, he’s actually trying to save Ukraine and save their sovereignty,’ Kellogg said.

‘And he’s going to make sure that it’s equitable and it’s fair’.

The US diplomat praised the president-elect for his willingness to meet with Vladimir Putin and said the outgoing president Joe Biden’s ‘biggest mistake’ was his refusal to work with the Russian President.

Fifteen minutes into the state Senate’s first meeting, nine Republicans joined all Democrats in voting to change committee assignments.

The GOP faction sided with Democrats despite urging from Senate President Matt Regier that the Republican caucus stay united.

Senate Minority Leader Pat Flowers offered the change, saying a new committee to review the governor’s proposed bills and agency appointments was unnecessary. Flowers proposed bumping the committee to on-call status and offered new assignments to its members.

“This proposal, this motion, makes the best use of all the expertise and experience in this body and puts them back on committees where they can use that expertise,” Flowers said.

In recent days, Regier and other Senate Republican leaders have tried and failed to gain back control.

During a caucus meeting Thursday some Republican senators called the faction of nine selfish. Regier said he understands they all have differing views, but said they need to operate as a unit.

“Montanans did not send the Democrats to run the show. They sent us. And I will not move from that,” Regier said.

But the nine senators didn’t budge. That included Sen. Wendy McKamey. She said creating the new committee was an affront to Gov. Greg Gianforte as it would have singled out his favored legislation for heightened review.

“I do not want to see us fighting the governor. I want to see us making good legislation. I want to see us getting to work. I want to see us getting stuff done,” McKamey said.

The dispute delayed the start of Senate committee work, which will begin next week, days after the House.

Regier told reporters he was surprised by the division in his party. He said he worries how the faction might impact policymaking down the line.

HELENA — On Friday morning, the House Judiciary Committee heard more than three hours of testimony on a bill that would require transgender people to use the bathroom that aligns with their sex at birth. Supporters said it was intended to protect single-sex spaces, particularly for women, while opponents called it discriminatory.

House Bill 121 is sponsored by Rep. Kerri Seekins-Crowe, R-Billings. It would require public schools, correctional facilities, other public buildings and domestic violence shelters to designate bathrooms, changing rooms and sleeping areas for either men or women, based on their biological sex at birth, and to “take reasonable steps” to keep the opposite sex out. Someone could then sue those facilities if they failed to take those steps and someone of the opposite sex used the space.

The bill wouldn’t apply to rooms that only one person can use at a time.

Seekins-Crowe denied that HB 121 was discriminating against anyone. She said women in these spaces are particularly vulnerable, and that the bill was intended to protect them from violence and harassment. She said it was a major issue for voters she spoke to during the last campaign.

“This is not targeting a certain population, this is protecting a certain population,” she said.

Lt. Gov. Kristen Juras also testified in support. She tied HB 121 to several other pieces of legislation that the Gianforte administration has supported in previous sessions: 2023’s Senate Bill 99, which prohibited gender-affirming health care for transgender youth, and Senate Bill 458, which codified a definition of biological sex into state law, as well as 2021’s House Bill 112, which restricted transgender female athletes from competing in girls’ sports.

“Acknowledging biological realities should not be complicated or controversial, and neither should this bill,” Juras said. “Working with the Legislature, the governor’s office has been proud of our shared record of defending Montanans from the far left’s ideological crusade that has swept the nation.”

Opponents argued the bill’s supporters were overstating the danger to women from transgender people, and that laws already exist to address the kind of behavior they’re concerned about. They said there was no way to enforce this requirement without intruding on Montanans’ privacy.

“How is the state expected to prevent me from using the men’s bathroom?” said Shawn Reagor, a transgender man representing the Montana Gender Alliance. “How is the state expected to know that I should be using the women’s bathroom and require me to do so? It doesn’t make any sense.”

Other opponents raised concerns that implementing the bill would be too burdensome, particularly on local governments and shelters. They questioned what these facilities would be required to do and what kind of legal liability they could face.

Kim Patterson, development director for the Friendship Center in Helena, said their organization receives hundreds of thousands of dollars in federal funding, including through the Family Violence Prevention and Services Program. She said they’re concerned complying with HB 121 might put that at risk.

“All of this funding prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity,” she said. “We are already under-resourced, and the loss of this funding would be detrimental to the people who rely on our lifesaving services.”

Rep. SJ Howell, D-Missoula, asked Seekins-Crowe about how the bill would be implemented, citing a hypothetical example of an encounter in a bathroom at a public library.

“They don’t have a name, they don’t have an address, they certainly haven’t seen a birth certificate – I’m hoping they haven’t seen anything else private about that person – they file a suit,” Howell said. “How are you envisioning that the librarian in this instance would clarify their liability? Are you thinking cameras in the bathroom, guards at all times, checks at the door?”

Seekins-Crowe said she believed public facilities are already making accommodations and that the impact will not be as large as opponents believe.

“This bill is not for us to invade privacy – and that does include women’s privacy at this point,” she said. “The purpose of this bill is to protect women in private spaces. And it’s not about checking. I think it really is going to also go to the comfort level of that person.”

The House Judiciary Committee took no immediate action on HB 121 Friday.