Moncton man flies to Poland to help fleeing Ukrainians
CBC
Oleksandra Rekhnyuk Alexandra was silent when she first heard her husband say he would fly to the border of Poland and Ukraine to help those fleeing from the country.
"He was asking, 'Please just support me,'" said Rekhnyuk, who saw her husband, Alex Rekhnyuk, depart on Saturday from the Greater Moncton Roméo LeBlanc International Airport.
Rekhnyuk landed in Poland on Sunday and plans to help from the Polish side of the border.
He has flown to the country to hand out medicine that has become difficult to find amid the escalation of violence.
Rekhnyuk will also be helping those fleeing from Ukraine cross into Poland by driving as many people as he can.
His wife said her husband flew out to help in any way he could after days of seeing Russia's invasion into his home country.
"He will help a lot of people who crossed the border in order to just stay safe, mostly women and kids," she said.
"He was willing to to help them get to the safe places absolutely for free because so many people cross the border right now and there are just not enough people, not enough volunteers."
She said her husband is staying in an apartment in Poland and is co-ordinating his work with a volunteer group.
The United Nations says more than 1.5 million refugees from Ukraine have crossed into neighbouring countries in the space of 10 days.
Rekhnyuk said her own family is still in Ukraine and only 100 kilometres from Kyiv.
"My hometown, unfortunately, was attacked so badly as well, but my family's still safe, too," she said.
"They don't want to to leave the Ukraine and we're still hopeful that everything will stop as soon as possible."
She said she has heard many have continued to stay in Ukraine to help in any way they can.
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