Ukrainians living in Quebec are consumed by concern for their loved ones and frustrated to see their native country threatened with war by Russia.
“I can’t sleep anymore,” says priest Volodymyr Kouchnir at the head of the Ukrainian Orthodox Cathedral of Saint Sophia in Montreal. I wake up in the middle of the night and my first reaction is to open my phone to see if there is war. »
The 59-year-old brings tears to his eyes when he thinks of the country he left more than 20 years ago to serve Ukrainian believers who immigrated to Canada. He still has a brother, sister, nephews and cousins there, he said.
It is the “beginning of an invasion” that is playing out in Ukraine, US President Joe Biden said on Tuesday, as the whole world watches the border of the two countries where 150,000 Russian soldiers have been deployed.
“Ukrainians are ready to fight and defend their country. They are not going to abandon it, ”breathes Mr. Kouchnir, according to echoes he has from his relatives. Nevertheless, he wholeheartedly hopes that a peaceful solution will be found.
Photo Ben Pelosse
Priest Volodymyr Kouchnir has served the Ukrainian Orthodox Cathedral of Saint Sophia in Montreal since 1999.
Putin the Aggressor
” [Vladimir] Putin is an aggressor! Anna Pchenitsa rages. The 58-year-old woman works as a cook at the Villa Ukrainienne, a residence for the elderly in the Rosemont district. With her colleagues Nadiya Mykkalyk and Louba Danch, they are worried about their loved ones in Ukraine.
Fortunately, they live in the west of the country, far from the disputed border, but the three women fear the ambition of the Russian president. They fear armed conflict and death.
Ms. Pchenitsa left Ukraine nearly 30 years ago, shortly after the fall of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), in search of a more prosperous and secure life. She does not wish for anything in the world that her native country falls under the yoke of the Russians.
Photo Ben Pelosse
Nadiya Mykkalyk, Louba Danch and Anna Pchenitsa work together in the kitchens of the Ukrainian Villa.
Two separate countries
” [Les dirigeants russes] don’t like Ukraine as a country. They do not recognize his story, denounces Svitlana Lurchenko. But we have our own culture, our language, our traditions, which are not like those in Russia. »
The 32-year-old graphic designer arrived in Quebec in 2017, and her husband, Maksym Ishchenko, joined her two years later.
Their family lives about 300 km from the border coveted by Vladimir Putin, in the Dnipro. “This region would be the next”, maintains Mr. Ishchenko, convinced that the Russian president wants to conquer all of Ukraine.
Worried and stressed, the couple remains in contact with their loved ones. She and her husband welcome the economic sanctions imposed by Western countries against the Russian government and hope that they will be tough enough to bring it back.
For her part, Inna Rozumenko, who arrived in Montreal last July with her husband, is suffering from her powerlessness in the face of the conflict that is emerging in Ukraine.
“Even if we help the community or give money, we have no control,” she laments, adding that she is worried about her daughter there, recently married and with a good use.
– With Laurent Lavoie