Winnipeg community rallies for Ukraine, fears for loved ones back home

They came out in dozens, holding blue-and-yellow flags and messages of support for friends and family back home in Ukraine.

By the time the rally was in full swing, more than 100 people were braving the frigid temperatures near the Winnipeg sign at The Forks at an event held to urge Western countries to send military help to Eastern Ukraine, less than 24 hours after a Russian military assault began there.

Among the crowd was Valeriya Stretovych, who came to Canada from Ukraine as a 13-year-old in 2013. 

With family still living in the European country, Stretovych said she was devastated to hear the news of the large-scale attack, which began just before 5 a.m. local time Thursday in Ukraine, or 9 p.m. CT Wednesday.

"I feel like I can't do anything to help my family back home. And I want to be able to do something…. I just couldn't sit at home," she said.

"Right now, I just feel very hopeless."

Andrii Kryvko said while he too is worried about family back in Ukraine, it was reassuring to see so many people show up at the rally.

"I'm glad to see so many of my Ukrainian friends here. But the latest events are pretty much disappointing," Kryvko said.

"I hope that Ukraine has enough strength to withstand that. That's my only hope — because I don't see too much … real help from other countries."

The Russian assaults in Ukraine have come from land, air and the Black Sea, as airstrikes and shelling have targeted cities and bases, according to NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.

Worry for friends and family living in the region has rippled across Manitoba, where the Ukrainian population numbers more than 180,000, according to the most recent available census data on ethnic origin.

That includes Yevginya Tatarenko, who arrived in Canada almost six years ago. And while her home is now the city of Morden, just over 100 kilometres southwest of Winnipeg, she said her heart is still in Ukraine.

So is her mom, Olena, a teacher who Tatarenko is trying to figure out a way to move from her home  — about 140 kilometres from Donetsk in Eastern Ukraine — to the country's western side.

"She's panicking now and she doesn't want to leave because she's worried that she can be attacked," she said.