Yukoner heading to Ukraine to bring friend's 3 nieces to Canada

After Jeff Sloychuk had a long conversation with a friend in Calgary who has three nieces in Kyiv, he knew what he had to do.

"It seemed to be the only solution was to go over there, pluck them, get them on a plane to Calgary, and out of the zone," said the Whitehorse resident.

Despite thousands of Ukrainains fleeing their country as the Russian invasion continues — and the Canadian government is currently recommending Canadians avoid all travel to Ukraine — Sloychuk is flying to Warsaw on Tuesday where he has a car waiting for him that will take him to Lviv and Turnopil, in western Ukraine, a couple of hours away.

He said he'll also help anyone else, as best he can, who wants to flee the country.

Sloychuk's family immigrated to Canada in the early 1900s and he said he still has family there, and some friends, who will help him .

"From what I understand, from what we're hearing, there will be some sort of corridor opened up, a humanitarian corridor to get people and kids of non-combat age out of Kyiv. So it just made sense. Why wouldn't I go and get these kids out?" he said.

Russia announced a handful of humanitarian corridors to allow civilians to flee Ukraine starting Monday, although the evacuation routes were mostly leading to Russia and its ally Belarus, drawing criticism from Ukraine. Meanwhile, Russian forces continued to pummel Ukrainian cities including Mykolaiv, south of the capital of Kyiv, indicating there would be no wider cessation of hostilities.

Sloychuk said he's not entering a war zone.

"I'm just skirting a war zone," he said.

Distributing goods

Sloychuk said he'll distribute many goods he's bringing with him.

"It's all the things that you could imagine that people need when they're fleeing with only the clothes on their back," he said, "from Gravol to antihistamines and allergy medications to tampons and pads and, I don't know, clean underwear."

He said Yukoners have been donating the items.

"People have been insanely generous here in the Yukon," he said, adding even his grandmother, who lives on a fixed income, gave him $100.

Anxiety

A few days before leaving, Sloychuk said he was feeling some anxiety about the trip but would feel more if he wasn't going. 

"Probably the hot word of 2022 is doomscrolling. This idea that you're just constantly looking for the latest updates on the latest bad news. And sadly, that's probably more upsetting than this idea that I can go there," he said.

"So I don't intend on doing anything stupid, and I don't intend on being a combatant. But getting there and getting people out seemed like a good thing to do."

He said his parents aren't "too pumped" about his trip but everyone else he's talked to is very supportive.

"So many people want to go over and make a difference because this does hit home to so many Canadians," he said. "Some of them wish that they were in my shoes, I know that."

'Very brave'

Natalya Spassova, a Ukrainian immigrant who lives in Whitehorse, said Sloychuk is very brave to be heading to Ukraine.

Her mother, two brothers and a niece and a nephew live in Odessa, Ukraine. She speaks to them every day and said her mother told her there was shooting about 3 kilometres from her house.

"People hiding from bombing. Nobody's working, everything is closed," she said, adding her family is hiding in the dark in their houses, and won't go outside.

She said that by going there, Sloychuk can give comfort to Ukrainians.

"Word will spread around that a simple Canadian guy came here to save us. It's just giving them hope, like we're not alone, and maybe more people like that will come and help," she said.

Sloychuk said this is his opportunity to make a difference. 

"[It's] on a small scale," he said. "A very human scale."