Winnipeg students worried, sympathetic as Russian forces mount attack on Ukraine

When Oksana Kosteckyj woke up Thursday morning to the news of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, she thought of her students.

Like her, many at R.F. Morrison School — with one of Winnipeg's few English-Ukrainian bilingual programs — have ties to the country now under attack.

The vice-principal says she knew those kids, though only in elementary school, would have questions about what was happening — and she wanted to figure out a way to make sure they felt supported.

That's why on Friday, staff and students at every school in the Seven Oaks School Division were urged to show their support for Ukraine by wearing blue- and-yellow clothing or traditional Ukrainian cross-stitched shirts.

That included Grade 5 students Nadia Zaporozhets and Boyan Yereniuk, who both said they hope to attend a rally in support of Ukraine Saturday evening at the Manitoba Legislative Building.

"We're trying our best to support Ukraine in any way that we can," said Nadia, 10, whose grandparents live in the southern Ukrainian city of Odesa.

For Boyan, that meant dyeing part of his hair blue. He says his family texts relatives in Ukraine every day, and while they're all OK for now, the 11-year-old is worried.

"It's hard to understand that my home native country is being invaded," he said.

In many classrooms, the show of support for Ukraine has led to conversations about the invasion, which, while difficult, is a good thing, Kosteckyj says.

"They are curious. They want to know more. They want to be able to have their questions answered, and they are worried — they're worried like the rest of us," she said.

As the granddaughter of Ukrainian refugees who fled the country while it was part of the Soviet Union, Kosteckyj says, those conversations have been meaningful for her, too.

"Hearing my grandparents' stories and knowing that they fled Ukraine during a time of Soviet occupation and knowing that that's happening right now in my lifetime — again — is something that is really challenging," she said. 

Iryna Deneka feels it, too. Born and raised in Ukraine, the teacher has plenty of loved ones still there — from her mom, brother and extended family to her high school friends now fighting on the front lines in the capital, Kyiv.

While she's been terrified of what might happen next, it also means she knows what some of her students are going through.