Safe in Winnipeg, these Ukrainians still hold out hope for the war at home
20,000 Ukrainians have settled in Manitoba since Russia's invasion almost 2 years ago
In Winnipeg, Ukrainian newcomer Khrystyna Rudanets still sleeps with an air raid app running on her phone, so she'll wake up if Russian missiles are targeting her family back home.
"I just text my mom, I call my brother and I say, 'How are you guys?'" Rudanets, 25, told The Current's Matt Galloway.
"I have to know … if they're okay."
Rudanets arrived in Winnipeg in March last year, one of 20,000 Ukrainians to come to Manitoba since Russia's invasion almost two years ago. The federal government has issued nearly one million visas to Ukrainians fleeing the war, but a total of 210,178 people had actually made the journey to Canada as of Nov. 28. The visas offer temporary residence rather than refugee status, and allow Ukrainians to work and study in Canada for three years.
Rudanets came to Canada hoping to find ways to support Ukraine from abroad. She now works as a settlement co-ordinator with the Ukrainian Canadian Congress in Manitoba, helping other displaced Ukrainians just like her.
But the decision to leave Ukraine was a difficult one. She has two uncles on the front line, and her father sometimes volunteers by delivering food and other supplies to troops.
"[I feel] guilty because I'm safe and my family is not. And you have to handle it every day," she said.
Rudanets lived in western Ukraine, far from the front line but still subject to missile attacks. She remembers air raid sirens waking her up in the middle of the night, and hiding in basements until they stopped. Attacks on critical infrastructure sporadically cut off light, heating and internet access, which she said hampered her own contribution to the war effort.
"I cannot earn money, I cannot support our defenders, I cannot be useful," she said.
"I even cannot … cook buns for our military because [the] oven is not working without electricity."
Families split apart
Elsewhere in the city, 7-year-old Tim and 11-year-old Mark are integrating into Winnipeg well.
"They have friends at the school; I am glad for them," said their mother, Maryna Olieshko, 36, who came to Canada with the boys and their grandmother, Nila, after the invasion in 2022.
"They learn English very fast and they teach us at home, me and my mom. So they are our teachers," she told Galloway.
A local church and host family sponsored the family to come, but Olieshko's husband, Alexei, could not make the journey. Under martial law, most men age of 60 and younger are forbidden to leave the country. He's a minister who volunteers with the war effort by distributing humanitarian aid to civilians.
"My husband lives at the church now; it's more safe. When rockets or bombs fly, it's so dangerous," she said.
Olieshko worries for him but hopes he can join the family in Canada one day, where she intends to apply for permanent residency. She and her mom work at a local thrift store, and try to keep their spirits up as best they can.
"My children know it is a difficult time for us. One day I cry, another day I smile," she said.
"But I know we need to keep going and keep praying and I tell myself, 'Maryna, don't give up; keep going.'"
'Ukraine in his heart'
Manitoba has long been home to a vibrant Ukrainian community, with 180,000 people who identify as Ukrainian. Newcomer Olha Kushniryk said that's been a big help with settling in.
"It was important not just to talk in Ukrainian," said Kushniryk, 35, who came to Winnipeg in June of last year, and now teaches chemistry part time at the University of Manitoba.
"It was important to meet somebody who is from Ukraine or who knows Ukraine, who has Ukraine in his heart. And who can just support because he understands what we feel."
Last week, a new poll from Angus Reid suggests Canadians' support for Ukraine is weakening — especially among Conservatives.
"People are just watching and listening and following less," Shachi Kurl, president of the Angus Reid Institute, told The Current last week.
Kurl said that's not surprising to some extent, given that two years have passed since the initial invasion. But she added that "it does have an impact on the extent to which people feel like Canada should continue to have a role and should continue to keep trying to help Ukraine."
Kushniryk said that for many people, the idea of war is abstract or happening far away.
"But for some people, for Ukrainians, it's something that is our reality — and we live with this feeling every day," she told Galloway.
"I'm very lucky that I met a lot of good friends here and people who helped me … who understand what I'm feeling and what I need."
Helping Ukraine from Canada
Kushniryk said that she's really happy to be in Winnipeg, but she hopes for an end to the war and peace in Ukraine soon.
Rudanets also intends to stay in Canada for years to come, but said when the time is right, she hopes to return to Ukraine to help rebuild, and look to a future after the conflict.
For now, she said she feels "useful" here in Canada, helping newcomers to improve their English and showing them how to write a Canadian-style resume, and find job postings.
"I can help here in Winnipeg, and also I can help in Ukraine, I can donate some money," she said.
Rudanets has another reason to be hopeful. When she came to Winnipeg, she connected with a fellow Ukrainian she had known for years back home.
"We knew each other all our lives. But [we] start dating in Canada, in friendly Manitoba, and now we are engaged," she said.
She thinks her story shows how life can surprise you, if you make space for something beautiful.
"We can find something really difficult, challenging for us. And we can find also the rainbow."
Audio produced by Suzanne Dufresne and Joana Draghici.
