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Ukrainian comes to area with 'two bags and two daughters'

Olena Lynnyk and her daughters arrived to Newmarket May 12 and have been staying with cousins
Lynnyk
Olena Lynnyk and her daughters (from left) Yaroslava and Polina are staying with family in Newmarket after fleeing the war in Ukraine.

Having arrived to Newmarket less than two weeks ago, shopping on Main Street, seeing the sites, and learning the town's history are not foremost on Olena Lynnyk's mind. What is, is finding a job, securing OHIP and social insurance cards and worrying about the husband she left behind.

A native of Ukraine, Lynnyk and daughters Yaroslava, 15, and Polina, 8, fled the city of Kyiv a week after the Russian invasion and on May 12 — two and-a-half months after their arduous journey began — cousins Alex Liskov and his wife Marina Liskova brought the family from the airport to their Newmarket home.

"As I am a teacher I hadn't got enough money to travel abroad and it was my first flight. It was very long and very nervous for my children," the 40-year-old said.  

On February 24, Lynnyk, a Ukrainian language teacher, and her husband, an employee of the Kyiv metro, woke to the sound of bombs and their first instinct was to find shelter for their daughters.

"When we woke up our first activity was to find a safe place to hide our children and ourselves."

The family took refuge in an old bomb shelter left over from the cold war that was under their house. According to Lynnyk, more than 50 people were occupying the extremely dirty 15 by 15 foot shelter, making it very cramped.

"We lived there, my family and many other families lived in this small room and bombs were closer, louder. . . "

Lynnyk's home is just 24 kilometres from the city of Buca, one of the first to be occupied by Russian forces and where an estimated 1,000 Ukrainians — including 31 children — were eventually killed on the site of what was once a summer camp.

In the first few days, the rush to leave Kyiv caused traffic jams on the roads, according to Lynnyk, and with so many trying to stock up on essentials the lines at shops and pharmacies were seemingly endless.   

"We couldn't go anywhere because we hadn't got our own car and trams, metros, buses didn't work. There was no way to leave the city. This week was very exhausting," she added.

After a week in the overcrowded, confined space, Lynnyk contacted her cousins in Newmarket to ask their advice on what she could do.

"She was lost, in space and time. She said 'I don't understand what I have to do because I can no longer stay in that bomb shelter,'" said Liskova.

Luckily, Liskova said, the family was able to find a service that was helping residents evacuate from the city.

The shelter had a 50 metre-long, narrow tunnel leading to their neighbour's yard and it was through that tunnel that Lynnyk and her daughters exited the shelter. Because men age 18 to 60 were barred from leaving the country, Lynnyk's husband stayed behind.

The family travelled to Lviv — a city in western Ukraine that would eventually be bombed — where Lynnyk's former classmate lived. The classmate helped Lynnyk secure temporary housing and soon after she and her daughters moved on to neighbouring Poland where there was a Canadian Embassy.

"I had only two bags and two daughters," she said of what she arrived with.

According to Lynnyk, the Polish people were also frightened of the war and though they were very helpful life in Poland was difficult. As a woman travelling with two daughters — none of whom spoke the language or had travel experience — Lynnyk worried for their safety in the rooms, shelters or homes they stayed in along the way.

"My children aren't tourists. I was afraid about them."

It was from Poland that the family received a visa allowing them to come to Canada to stay with their cousins.

"We were very happy to land safe on the ground. . . finally we are far from Russia. After bombs, buses, our life in Poland, our flight was interesting but we weren't very afraid of it. . . We saw more dangerous things and we believed that everything will be OK."

With unreliable internet in Ukraine getting in touch with her husband daily is not always possible and Lynnyk continues to worry for his safety along with the safety of her entire family including her mother, her sister, her sister's family, her husband's family as well as friends.  

Those that remain in Ukraine have no possibility of coming to Canada, she said, and her mother, who has never been on a plane, is afraid to fly and doesn't want to abandon her home.

Lynnyk also worries about the impact their experience will have on Yaroslava and Polina who are afraid of helicopters and noise in general.

Ironically, before the war, Yaroslava's dream was to travel to Canada to study "but we didn't think her dream would come true in such a dangerous way," said Lynnyk.

Having taught class using Zoom during the height of the pandemic, Lynnyk hopes to continue teaching her students remotely if she can because she misses them, she said.

"Children in Ukraine like studying in school and my lessons will help them to think not only about the war but about other things."

Lynnyk said she hasn't put much thought into exploring Newmarket or the surrounding area, though she and her daughters would like to see Niagara Falls at some point. For now, her goal is to register her children for the last few weeks of school and get her paperwork in order so she can secure a job.

She's grateful to be safe and in Canada but she is hopeful Ukraine will be victorious so she and her daughters can return home.

"My daughters know from their history lessons that Canada is one of our biggest friends in the world and Canada always supports Ukraine." Regardless, "I miss my family, my husband. I want to come back to Ukraine and to my job very much. . . I believe Ukraine will be the winner in this war. My daughters and I will return to our country. I think, with life experience and good impressions of Canada."