Safe in Winnipeg, these Ukrainians still hope for war at home

In Winnipeg, Ukrainian newcomer Krystyna Rudanets still sleeps with the anti-aircraft program running on her phone, so she'll wake up if Russian missiles target her family at home.

“I just text my mom, call my brother and say, 'How are you?' I say,” said 25-year-old Rudanets. Flow Matt Galloway.

“I need to know… are they okay?”.

Rudanec arrived in Winnipeg last March, one of 20,000 Ukrainians who have arrived in Manitoba since the Russian invasion two years ago. The federal government issued nearly one million visas to Ukrainians fleeing the war, but A total of 210,178 people traveled to Canada on November 28.. The visa offers temporary residence rather than refugee status and allows Ukrainians to work and study in Canada for three years.

Rudanets came to Canada looking for ways to support Ukraine from abroad. She now works as a resettlement coordinator at the Ukrainian Canadian Congress in Manitoba, helping other displaced Ukrainians like herself.

But the decision to leave Ukraine was difficult. He has two brothers in the front line, and his father sometimes volunteers by delivering food and other supplies to the troops.

“(I feel guilty) because I'm safe and my family is not safe. And you have to deal with that every day,” she said.

The Rudanets lived in western Ukraine, far from the front lines, but were still exposed to rocket attacks. He remembers air raid sirens waking him up in the middle of the night and hiding in basements until they stopped. Attacks on critical infrastructure periodically cut off power, heat and internet access, which he said hampered his contribution to the war effort.

“I can't make money, I can't support our defenders, I can't be useful,” he said.

“I can't even…bake buns for our troops because the oven won't work without electricity.”

Families were separated

Elsewhere in the city, 7-year-old Tim and 11-year-old Mark are enjoying Winnipeg.

“They have friends at school, and I'm happy for them,” said their mother Marina Olishko, 36, who came to Canada with her sons and their grandmother Nila in 2022 after the attack.

“They learn English very quickly and they teach us at home, me and my mother. So they are our teachers,” Galloway said.

A local church and host family sponsored the family's visit, but Olishko's husband, Alexei, was unable to make the trip. Most men over the age of 60 are prohibited from leaving the country in times of war. He is a minister who distributes humanitarian aid to civilians and voluntarily participates in the war.

“My husband lives in a church now; it's safer. When a rocket or a bomb goes off, it's very dangerous,” she said.

Olieszko is worried about him, but hopes that one day he will be able to join his family in Canada, where he plans to apply for permanent residency. He and his mother work at a local grocery store and try to cheer them up any way they can.

“My children know that it is a difficult period for us. One day I cry, the other day I laugh,” he says.

“But I know I have to keep praying and I say to myself: 'Marina, don't give up; go on” I say.

“Ukraine is in his heart”

Manitoba has been around for a long time home to an active Ukrainian community, 180,000 people are recognized as Ukrainian. Newcomer Olha Kusnirik said it was a big help in settling in.

“The only thing that mattered was speaking Ukrainian,” said Kushnrik, 35, who arrived in Winnipeg last June and now teaches part-time chemistry at the University of Manitoba.

“It was important to meet someone from Ukraine or someone who knows Ukraine and has Ukraine at heart. He can support us only because he understands our feelings.”

A new poll by Angus Reid last week shows Canadian support for Ukraine is weakening — especially among conservatives.

“People are just looking, listening and following less,” said Shachi Kurl, president of the Angus Reed Institute. Current last week.

Kurl said this is somewhat unsurprising given that it has been two years since the first attack. But he added that “it affects the degree to which people believe that Canada should continue to play a role and continue to try to help Ukraine.”

Kushnirik said that for many people, the idea of ​​war seems abstract or distant.

“But for some people, for Ukrainians, this is our reality – and we live with that feeling every day,” he told Galloway.

“I'm very lucky to have met so many good friends here and people who have helped me … who understand how I feel and what I need.”

Help from Canada to Ukraine

Kushnyrik said that he was very happy to be in Winnipeg, but he hoped that soon the war in Ukraine would end and peace would be established.

Rudanets also said he wants to stay in Canada for years to come, but hopes to return to Ukraine when the time comes to help rebuild and look to the future after the conflict.

So far, she said she feels “useful” in Canada, helping newcomers improve their English and showing them how to write Canadian-style resumes and find job ads.

“I can help in Winnipeg, and I can help in Ukraine, I can give some money,” he said.

Rudanets has another reason for hope. When he arrives in Winnipeg, he contacts a Ukrainian citizen he has known for many years in the country.

“We have known each other all our lives. But (we) started dating in Canada, in friendly Manitoba, and now we are married,” he said.

She believes her story shows how life can surprise you if you make room for something beautiful.

“We can find something really difficult, difficult for us. We can also find the rainbow.''