(Halifax) A Canadian stranded in northern Ukraine while trying to help displaced citizens managed to escape, on foot, as Russian bombs rained down on the area.
Posted at 6:20 p.m.
Lex Brukovskiy, a fisherman from Meteghan, Nova Scotia, grew up in Ukraine.
He told The Canadian Press on Friday that he was stuck in the town of Chernihiv for five days before he was finally able to get out on Tuesday, leaving his van behind, as Russian shelling of roads and bridges continued.
In a series of text messages, he said that once he got out of this town in northeastern Ukraine, near the border with Belarus, he continued to walk, hitchhiked, then finally joined its initial convoy of rescue vehicles and reached the western city of Lviv on Thursday.
Mr Brukovskiy says the convoy of vans was able to save six displaced people, as several vehicles had managed to get out of Chernihiv before it.
“I take no credit for helping these [six] people to escape: half of my team was able to escape two days before the others [dans des véhicules]. They are the ones who helped the refugees,” he insisted.
perilous roads
Mr Brukovskiy said he was relieved to be leaving Chernihiv, but added that he was saddened that others had been left behind as the terrifying explosions continued.
“I’m disappointed that we couldn’t get more people out. They are desperate. They still call me to ask me when we will come back for them,” he said.
However, he recalls that there are very high risks of being injured when trying to move around in the east of the country. He says that on Thursday he learned that a convoy of volunteers had been ambushed near Chernihiv, which left several injured and at least one dead.
During his own trek out of town, the Nova Scotian fisherman said he hadn’t encountered any Russian soldiers. But “we left under the bombs. The shelling never stopped there.”
The lobster fisherman had raised funds for humanitarian aid and he left his fishing boat in Meteghan last month to travel to Ukraine, where most of his family still lives.
He said on Friday he was already back on the road, seeking to pick up displaced people and bring them to safety. Mr Brukovskiy said he left Lviv in a new van on Thursday, but said that for security reasons he cannot divulge details of his current journey.
He also increasingly avoids setting specific appointments to give news. “The last time I set an appointment for the next day, I found myself stuck for five days. »