Ukrainian-Canadians living in B.C. worry about family back home
CBC
"It was a sobering wake up call."
Father Mykhailo Ozozrovych, the pastor of the Holy Eucharist Cathedral in New Westminster, was not worried about his family in Ukraine a few weeks ago when Russia was building up its forces in the region, because they lived far from the conflict zone.
Then, a bomb hit the Ivano-Frankivsk airport Thursday morning, less than five kilometres from where Ozozrovych's parents live.
"I thought my city is so far from where Russia is and from the border, and now just a couple of weeks later I was wrong. The invasion did happen," Ozozrovych said in an interview with Stephen Quinn on CBC's The Early Edition.
Ozozrovych is one of a number of Ukrainian-Canadians living in B.C. who are worried about relatives living in Ukraine, following the Russian invasion.
At 29, he is one of the youngest pastors of a Ukrainian church in Canada. His father, who is retired and living in Ukraine, is offering his services as a soldier in defence of his homeland.
"That's courage, that's calmness. There are hundreds of thousands of those across Ukraine now reporting to their local military units."
Explosions were reported in several cities in Ukraine after Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a series of unprovoked attacks by land, sea and air late Wednesday night.
A senior U.S. defence official described it as the largest conventional military attack in Europe since the Second World War.
Tamara Krawchenko, who is an assistant professor in the school of public administration at the University of Victoria, is also worried about her family in Ukraine.
Krawchenko said her sister who lives in Kyiv woke up to "what sounded like bombs" that turned out to be the shelling of military buildings and the airport.
"They were hoping to flee to the West somehow, but it is looking very chaotic."
Krawchenko said despite the attacks and further threats, Ukrainians have dealt with Russian imperialism for years and will not give up.
"Ukrainians will fight to the death, each one of them, from babas [grandmothers] who are 80 years old to young women."
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