90 Day Fiance alum Natalie Mordovtseva has revealed that her mother successfully escaped Ukraine amid Russia's invasion of their native country.
ADVERTISEMENT
Natalie, 35, took to her Instagram Story on Tuesday, March 1 and wrote to her followers that her mother "made it to Europe with some other families" amid the war and frightening civilian casualties, In Touch Weekly reported.
RELATED LINK: '90 DAY FIANCE' COUPLES NOW: WHO IS STILL TOGETHER? WHO HAS SPLIT? WHERE ARE THEY NOW? (PHOTOS)
Natalie continued in her post update, "Unfortunately, [all] my friends are locked [in] that hell... every night they [are] telling me that they [are] gonna die."
Natalie has since been sharing petitions to stop Russian airstrikes and close the airspace, adding, "I'm suffering with my people."
ADVERTISEMENT
She has also asked fans to recognize Ukrainian heroism and wrote "Save my country" in her Instagram bio.
Natalie's mother was featured on Season 7 of 90 Day Fiance as being Natalie's best friend and confidant. Natalie often gushed about her love for her supportive mother and how her opinion mattered a lot to Natalie.
On February 24, Russia President Vladimir Putin publicly announced a "special military operation" in eastern Ukraine, and within minutes of his announcement, missiles began striking locations across the entirety of Ukraine, including its capital city Kyiv, where Natalie was born and raised.
A couple of hours into the invasion, Russian ground forces entered the country, and thousands of soldiers have since been wounded or killed.
As of Wednesday, March 2, more than 870,000 refugees have fled Ukraine during Russia's invasion, according to CNN, and the U.N. estimates this number could grow to five million.
ADVERTISEMENT
Ukraine's State Emergency Service also said there have been more than 2,000 civilian deaths, although there have been conflicting accounts about the civilian death toll in Ukraine.
RELATED LINK: '90 DAY FIANCE: BEFORE THE 90 DAYS' COUPLES NOW: WHO IS STILL TOGETHER? WHO HAS SPLIT? WHERE ARE THEY NOW? (PHOTOS)
The U.N. human rights office has tallied 136 civilian deaths, with the toll likely being "much higher," CNN reported.
Russia has been ramping up assaults on key Ukrainian cities in recent days, including the country's second-largest city, Kharkiv.
Natalie was a 35-year-old from Kyiv when she starred on Season 7 of 90 Day Fiance with her then-boyfriend Mike Youngquist, who was 34 years old at the time and from Sequim, WA.
ADVERTISEMENT
The pair had met through a mutual friend and began texting back and forth, which resulted in a friendship and then Mike booking a flight to Ukraine so they could meet in person and help each other through divorces.
After spending only two weeks together in Ukraine, Mike felt they were meant to be, and so he returned to the United States and began the K-1 visa process. But Mike and Natalie were opposites in many ways, and their differences caused problems in their relationship.
Natalie is a religious vegetarian, for example, while Mike is an atheist meat-eater who believes in aliens. Natalie also wanted to welcome children right away, but Mike was struggling financially and wanted to wait a while.
The final straw, however, was when a producer asked Natalie if she loved Mike on-camera and she responded by sitting in silence, and so their engagement was called off.
RELATED LINK: '90 DAY FIANCE: HAPPILY EVER AFTER?' COUPLES NOW: WHO IS STILL TOGETHER? WHO HAS SPLIT? WHERE ARE THEY NOW? (PHOTOS)
ADVERTISEMENT
But the pair eventually got back together, and on May 24, 2020, Natalie suddenly announced "We Get Married!" on Instagram.
(According to In Touch, the couple actually got married in Clallam County, Washington on April 15, 2020).
A few days later, Natalie captioned another photo of the couple, "Love is very meaningful for us."
And in June 2020, Natalie posted a photo with Mike calling him her "lovely husband."
In November 2020, TLC announced Mike and Natalie would return as part of the Season 8 cast of 90 Day Fiance, which featured Natalie struggling to adapt to life in America as a stay-at-home partner.
Natalie was shown trying to convince Mike to marry her before her K-1 visa expired, but she felt neglected, ignored and unappreciated. Natalie also felt living in Sequim prevented her from pursuing her dreams of becoming a model and actress.
However Season 8 cast of 90 Day Fiance still ended with coverage of the couple's Spring 2020 wedding.
Mike and Natalie then appeared on Season 6 of 90 Day Fiance: Happily Ever After?, which wrapped up on TLC in August 2021 and concluded with Natalie deciding to dump Mike and move out.
However Natalie's decision to end her marriage had been spoilers months earlier in March 2021 when Mike's uncle, Beau Lawrence, told In Touch that Mike and Natalie had recently separated.
Three months later, in June 2021, Natalie had also confirmed she had dumped and "abruptly and permanently" left Mike because their marriage had reached a breaking point.
Natalie then subsequently appeared on Season 2 of 90 Day: The Single Life, a discovery+ spinoff series which follows 90 Day Fiance alums as they resume dating following the failure of their prior 90 Day Fiance relationships.
ADVERTISEMENT
Natalie ended The Single Life season still single, and the season's Tell All reunion featured Mike appearing via video chat and telling Natalie he believed it was time they officially file for divorce given she was dating other men and been living separately in Florida for nearly a year.
RELATED LINK: '90 DAY FIANCE' COUPLES NOW: WHO IS STILL TOGETHER? WHO HAS SPLIT? WHERE ARE THEY NOW? (PHOTOS)
Want more 90 Day Fiance spoilers or couples updates? Click here to visit our 90 Day Fiance homepage!