ARNOLD, Mo. — Kevin and Tiffany Kondracki hang a Ukrainian flag in their front yard in Arnold, Missouri, to show support for their daughter Kira's home country.
"We had decided to adopt when we saw a picture of Kira on Facebook," said Tiffany Kondracki.
After hosting Kira in the summer of 2018, they worked with an adoption agency that had a Ukrainian facilitator on staff named Serge Zevlever.
"We really loved the fact that he lived here in Missouri, he's here and he's there and so we already had that connection with him and we felt like we already knew him," Kondracki said.
After a difficult, almost-year-long process they were finally able to officially adopt Kira in 2019 when she was 13 years old.
"He sent us a picture of him and her thumbs up and he called me and he says she's yours," Kondracki said.
Carolyn Miller, who also lives in Arnold, handled most of the paperwork for her daughter Elise's adoption before meeting Zevlever in Kyiv in 2007.
"He drove us the nine-and-a-half hours to Zaporizhzhia, which is in the eastern part of Ukraine where we got to meet her and as soon as we met her it was, well it was like God just said 'Here's your daughter,'" Miller said.
There were obstacles along the way, but Miller said they were no match to Zevlever's dedication.
"He was a pitbull in getting things done. He intimidated my husband and I a little bit, but to see him with her was a whole different story," Miller said.
On Sunday morning, the Kondrackis and Millers found out Zevlever died fighting for his home country as Russian soldiers invade Ukraine.
"I've never felt that anger for that country to be in there and just senselessly kill him. He is the number one person that can help these children get home. He revamped the entire system. He advocated for special needs children," Kondracki said.
"I pray for the many more children that could have had homes had this not happened," Miller said.
These two families had never met before this moment. Now, they sit together bonded by the memory of the man who changed their lives forever.
"We can't have kids of our own and he gave us a daughter," Kondracki said.
"He gave us a wonderful gift that we got to have Elise in our family, because of how much he fought for us," Miller said.
For 25 years, Zevlever helped more than 3500 Ukrainian children find homes in the U.S.
He had dual citizenship between St. Charles and Ukraine.
The U.S. State Department confirmed Zevlever died on Feb. 26. Zevlever’s close friend and colleague Judy Wolff said he was shot outside of his apartment in Kyiv.