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Stop Putin, Stop War. Those are the words currently being said by people all over the world after Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a large-scale military invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, marking a major escalation to a conflict that began in 2014.
Canada has the largest Ukrainian population outside of Ukraine.
Of course, this war is devastating and terrifying for those currently living in Ukraine, but for the roughly 345,000 Ukrainians living in Alberta, many of them right here in the Border City, it’s really hitting home.
“My first reaction was ‘I just cannot believe this.’ Before this happened on Feb. 24, my brother received information that it’s better to leave Kyiv because he and his family lived there. He said to me ‘there’s no way this is going to happen,’” said Lloydminster resident Vasya Omelchuk, who is originally from a village close to the Ukrainian capital city of Kyiv.
“The next morning he called me and said ‘it happened, the Russians started bombing,’ but, nobody believed it was actually going to happen. How is this even possible?
“That was my first reaction, I couldn’t believe this was even happening.”
Omelchuk moved to Canada in 2012 on an agricultural student exchange program and worked on a farm close to Maidstone for a year.
“After living with a Canadian family and working on their farm for a year, I moved to Lloydminster and worked in the oil patch,” he said. “I had to quit my job in 2017 because my wife’s health wasn’t good, so I started doing photography and videography so I could spend more time at home with her.”
Omelchuk explained his grandmother, mother, sisters, cousins, and his brother all still live in Ukraine
“Right now, the village I am originally from has been occupied by Russian soldiers and tanks; it’s scary.
“The first few days they weren’t touching people, but now they’re touching people and opening gunfire on them … on civilians, people with disabilities; anybody.
“The Russian soldiers are now hungry, cold, and running out of supplies because they went so deep into Ukraine, so they’re starting to go into people’s houses looking for food, fuel, anything.”
Roman Melnychenko originally hails from western Ukraine, but despite the distance from the Russian border, he tells a story about a bomb going off a kilometre from his sister’s home.
“I want to talk about this situation to help people understand what’s really going on over there,” he said.
“This isn’t just a weapons war, it’s also an information war. Lots of people call me and ask me what’s going on in Ukraine and why Putin is attacking. A lot of people aren’t aware that Putin is bombing civilians and that lots of people are dying.
“Yesterday, a Russian rocket destroyed a Kindergarten school, lots of kids died, and so many of the photos coming out of Ukraine aren’t being seen because Russian is blocking all of it. Russia is the aggressor, Putin, he’s the number-one enemy of the world. Today, it’s a war in Ukraine, tomorrow, who knows … he has no breaks.”
With the majority of his family also still living in Ukraine, Melnychenko explained many Russian soldiers have been arrested and thrown in Ukrainian jails.
“When the Russian soldiers are asked why they came to Ukraine, they don’t have explanations,” he said.
“But they did say they didn’t have a choice in the matter … it was either go to Ukraine or be killed in Russia.
“I think the scariest things are yet to happen, and this isn’t the first time he’s done this.”
Melnychenko is the owner of Cheers Restaurant and Lounge and has been for the past two years. He hosted a fundraising event yesterday for humanitarian and medical aid relief for Ukraine, with 25 per cent of the day’s total sales being donated.
He also explained he has had people come into the restaurant and donate to the fund, and over $1,000 has already come in through random donations.
“Every dollar spent or sent over there can save someone’s life, so we’re just trying to do whatever we can to support Ukraine,” he said. “Stop Putin, stop war.”
