‘They want to live in peace’

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This article was published 24/02/2022 (938 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Every winter, Eugene Waskiw enjoys reading Christmas cards from his family in Ukraine.

He sits at the dining room table, light pooling on the greetings, and absorbs the messages from what he calls “the homeland.”

When Russia invaded Ukraine Thursday, or late Wednesday local time, Waskiw was glued to his TV.

“I need to know what’s happening with (my family): how they are doing, where (they) are,” he said.

Relatives on both his father and mother’s side live in west Ukraine, roughly 63 kilometres from the Polish border, Waskiw said. He’s been calling them frequently since the conflict began.

“There’s an escape plan, if need be,” he said. “Generally, overall, they’re safe for now.”

He stayed at the back of Sts. Vladimir and Olga Ukrainian Catholic Church Thursday evening. More than 70 people joined him in the North End cathedral for a moleben, a service of intercession. Attendees punctuated the vigil’s hour-long stream of prayers and hymns by crossing themselves, joining together in solidarity for Ukraine.

One person wore the Ukrainian flag like a cape. Another sported a blue and yellow ribbon armband.

Deacon Antin Sloboda stood in his black garment at the front.

“I did not sleep (last night),” he said in an interview after the service.

Instead, he read the news of Russia’s invasion on his home country.

On Thursday, he called his 72-year-old mother at least four times, while on work breaks and in his silver Mitsubishi.

Sloboda’s mom doesn’t plan to flee from her home in Lviv, Ukraine, Sloboda said.

“She just stays and hopes things will calm down,” he said, adding she’s lived there a long time and has chronic illnesses.

Leaving is a logistical nightmare, Sloboda said. His mother doesn’t have a game plan for staying in Poland, should she cross the border in a car.

For now, she’s near some of her children — Sloboda’s older brother and sister — and their young families. Russia’s offensive has reached outside the western city of Lviv, the Washington Post reported Friday.

Sts. Vladimir and Olga Ukrainian Catholic Church was open Thursday for prayer drop-ins. A steady flow of people took to their knees throughout the day, said Rev. Ihor Shved.

“We always had somebody,” said the priest, who’s from Ukraine.

The service he held Thursday was unfamiliar to parishioners — it’s used in times of war, said Waskiw, who’s part of the church executive.

“All of a sudden we have this… catastrophe happening in our homeland,” Waskiw said. “I’ve had calls all day from people who I thought were just lukewarm Ukrainians, that were slowly losing (their culture).”

“They were impacted by the news, even though they’re long since removed from their homeland. The images on TV are shocking.”

Waskiw, who’s on several boards in Winnipeg’s Ukrainian community, said he wants to see United Nations troops intervene.

“I learned this in the schoolyard in Grade 3: the only thing a bully understands is force. And Putin is a bully,” Waskiw said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has threatened he will use weapons on nations that interfere with his army’s invasion. Many believe he’s referring to nuclear warfare.

Waskiw said a United Nations campaign would mean it’s the world against Russia. He’s disappointed with the west’s reaction to the war and said things could escalate without pushback.

“If Ukraine now, who next?” he said. “Did we not learn anything in 1918 or 1939? It’s almost as if we didn’t.”

Standing amid the church pews Thursday was Myroslav Shkandrij, a professor emeritus of German and Slavic studies for the University of Manitoba.

He taught students about Ukraine’s many revolutions and attempts to establish an independent state. He didn’t think he’d be alive to see such a conflict happen in real-time.

“This has been a shock,” Shkandrij, 71, said. “We’re living in the 21st century. To have somebody blatantly move the borders and then state that you as a country, as a state, as a people do not exist… (Russia is) quite prepared to use the most horrific methods.”

Putin has called Ukraine an illegitimate state and said its land should belong to Russia.

Ukraine has been under the rule of empires, such as the Soviet Union, for much of the past 120 years, Shkandrij said.

Ukraine voted for independence in a referendum amid the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991.

“One of the things you learn from history is how these cycles recur and how people rise up and try and win an independent statehood, (and) also create a democratic state,” Shkandrij said.

The intellectual and cultural elite are decimated when war happens, but eventually, new groups emerge, Shkandrij said.

“This is another attempt to remove that thinking class,” he said. “But Ukrainians are used to this. They’ve seen this before, and they’re asking for help.”

Putin doesn’t want democracy so close to his territory, others at the vigil said.

Shkandrij said he attended the service for solidarity and prayer. He reflected upon hearing stories of David and Goliath, and God guiding Moses to lead the Israelites from Egypt.

“It makes you see the big picture and understand that war has been going on for many, many generations,” Shkandrij said.

His daughter Alexandra is helping to organize a rally outside the Manitoba Legislative Building on Saturday. The 5 p.m. gathering is to express support for Ukrainians’ rights.

“(We’re) really kept apart in a lot of ways, and there’s a lot of challenges to being united,” Alexandra said after Thursday’s vigil.

It’s important people gather together, she said.

“I think a lot of people thought this would be diplomatically resolved.”

Her father said he’s heartened by the Russians who are protesting against Putin.

Thousands of Russians decried the war, and hundreds have been arrested for speaking out.

“They’re very brave, they’re very courageous,” Shkandrij said.

Winnipegger Wolodymyr Dlugosh wants his cousin to escape from Ukraine.

“I don’t think there’s a future there, the way this is playing out,” he said, adding Canada, and the rest of the world, has been slow to react.

“We continue to do things like this, (not) pay attention to it, because, well, it’s not in my backyard.”

Ukraine hasn’t had the chance to mature into a democratic society, he said.

“They want to live in peace (and) want to be a democratic country… and what’s happening is just unbelievable.”

— With files from The Associated Press

gabrielle.piche@winnipegfreepress.com