Separated by more than 7,000 kilometres, many Ukrainian-Manitobans spent a sleepless night Wednesday – praying, reaching out to loved ones and watching in shock – as news of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine reached the province.
“For everyone who has family back in Ukraine — this night was just horrifying,” Dmytro Malyk with the Manitoba chapter of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress, told Global News Thursday morning.
Manitoba is home to more than 180,000 people of Ukrainian descent, and Myroslava Pidhirnyj is among them.
The Winnipegger, whose extended family and friends live in western Ukraine, is in disbelief that Russia’s attack is playing out country-wide.
“(My family) didn’t anticipate being hit at this time,” Pidhirnyj told 680 CJOB. “It came from the north. It came from the east, and it came from the south.”
Those living in western Ukraine felt relatively safe from Russian troops, Pidhirnyj said.
“There’s a lot of trepidation.”
Despite some being caught off guard, Ukrainians will be willing to fight for their freedom, she said.
“Ukrainians are a tough breed.”
They value their democracy and freedom, Pidhirnyj said, adding that the invasion isn’t just a problem for Ukraine.
“Ukraine really is the buffer now,” she said. “Where will Putin stop?“
Manitoba politicians standing with Ukraine
Premier Heather Stefanson condemned Russia for violating Ukraine’s sovereignty and pledged to back the federal government in imposing economic sanctions on Russia and in sending Canadian military equipment to Ukraine.
“It is unacceptable behaviour,” Stefanson said in a Thursday news release.
“It is hard to imagine how difficult watching the news must be for so many Manitobans who have loved ones in Ukraine,” she said.
“I share your concerns, and Manitoba will support the federal government in everything it can to pressure Russia to end its aggression and restore peace in the region.”
Stefanson also supports Canada’s decision to give financial loans to Ukraine, the release said.
Winnipeg Mayor Brian Bowman also voiced his support for Ukraine and Winnipeg’s Ukrainian-Canadian community in a Thursday morning tweet, calling Russian President Vladimir Putin’s move “a brutal act of war in Europe.”
Russia’s large-scale military attack global ‘wake-up call’
Putin warned that any interference from other countries as his forces invade Ukraine would lead to “consequences you have never seen in history.”
NATO says it will defend every ally against any attack on every inch of NATO territory, but no world leader is promising to move in militarily at the risk of touching off a bigger European war.
Ukrainians aren’t expecting Canada and other countries to fight their war for them, Pidhirnyj said, but she’s calling on Canadians to assist Ukraine and its citizens in other ways, through economic sanctions and humanitarian support.
Ukrainian Canadian Congress CEO Ihor Michalchyshyn agrees Ukraine’s ask to Canada was always to punish Putin, his inner circle and Russia’s economy.
“We need the toughest, biggest, harshest sanctions on Russia to cripple its economy so that they can’t pay for these assaults and invasions,” Michalchyshyn told 680 CJOB Thursday morning.
At a press conference Thursday afternoon, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced Canada was imposing more severe sanctions on Russia, targeting 58 entities and people connected to the country, including key cabinet ministers, members of the country’s elite and their families along with members of the Russian Security Council.
Trudeau says the government is prioritizing immigration applications for Ukrainians who want to come to Canada, and that it has arranged for the safe passage of any Canadian citizens, permanent residents and their families still in Ukraine through neighbouring countries.
Canadian Global Affairs Institute president David Perry suspects the crisis in Ukraine could turn into Europe’s largest humanitarian crisis in recent memory.
He anticipates thousands of Ukrainians will flee to neighbouring countries, including Poland and Moldova, which will need help feeding and housing refugees.
Perry called the large-scale military attack a different ball game and is hopeful it serves as a global “wake-up call.”
“We haven’t seen this kind of sophisticated, combined, co-ordinated, widespread military effort in the last several decades, unless it was one that the United States, effectively, was leading,” Perry told 680 CJOB Thursday morning.
“We haven’t seen this from somebody who’s on the opposite side of the fence from us leading this kind of an effort,” he said.
— with files from The Canadian Press
More to come …
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