SAN ANTONIO — A San Antonio woman in Ukraine is days away from giving birth. She lives with her husband roughly six miles from Kyiv.
They made the last-minute decision to leave the country to find a safer place to deliver the baby.
The two left the capital city separately and were set to reunite Friday night local time.
As KENS 5 learned, the couple is among tens of thousands waiting hours in traffic to escape the Russian invasion.
"I'm traveling all around Ukraine to get my wife," said Andrii Petrenko, a native of Ukraine.
Following two sleepless nights, Petrenko spent the day on the road.
He says his wife Ellissa left early with friends to head west.
"Ellissa left our house [Thursday] because I needed to wait for my mom to come to our house," he explained.
We exchanged voice messages with Andrii on Facebook as he made the more than 300-mile drive from Kyiv to meet Ellissa in Chernivtsi, a city near the southwest border of Ukraine.
"Our plans for tonight [are] to meet in Chernivtsi to go to our friend's apartment and to have a night there,"
He says Ellissa is 38 weeks pregnant. The baby could come at any time.
"I think the most important thing is to find a good hospital for her where she would be safe because Soviet medicine is not something that I'm comfortable for her to give birth to our child," said Petrenko.
He says they'll weigh their options: Go to Poland, Romania, Moldova or Germany to welcome their first child.
"I don't think it would be possible for her to fly to San Antonio because of the terms of her pregnancy," said Petrenko.
Friday, CBS News reported as Russian troops closed in on Kyiv, Ukraine's Minister of Defense did an all-call for civilians 18 and older to take up arms and fight. Any man between the ages 18 and 60 would not be allowed to leave.
Andrii, who is a former soccer player, believes he may be exempt.
"When I played professionally, I had injuries that disallowed me to be part of the Army," he explained. "So we'll probably be able to cross the border."
The couple does ministry work in Ukraine. Andrii's work includes coaching a small local soccer program which is part of a Christian football union, uniting 32 clubs who use soccer as a means to train the mind, body and spirit. He says more than 1,600 children participate.
Petrenko says they've received support from churches, friends and even strangers as they make this journey out of the country.
"Our God, even in very, very difficult situations, He's still faithful. He's still in control. He can do miracles," said Petrenko. "When you're in a stressful situation and you have the smallest encouragement, it's like wow, it's a small miracle."
The Petrenko's are expecting a baby girl. Her due date is March 11.