The 60-year-old Ukrainian woman crossed three countries in five days and succeeded in reuniting with her cousins in Quebec, leaving a son and a business without knowing if he could find them.
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Lydia Ishchenko left Ukraine on the afternoon of February 24 after the first shelling.
It was only on the 1st at 8pmEr In March, he was able to pack his suitcase with his son Maxim Ishchenko, daughter-in-law Svitlana Yurchenko and their baby Daniel.
No English or French was spoken, the 60-year-old ophthalmologist said Newspaper His difficult journey into the Ukrainian language, and his daughter-in-law translated.
From the beginning of the war, her relatives begged her to come to Canada and seek asylum. He lived in Krivi Rihil in central Ukraine, the birthplace of President Volodymyr Zhelensky.
Her brother-in-law and a nephew came to pick her up in the car. The trio took more than 14 hours to reach the border of Moldova, traveling about 500 km.
Run away from the bombs
“She could not believe there really was a war. We still do not believe it,” her daughter-in-law breathes.
MMe Ishchenko says he heard the shell and saw with horror the pillars of fire and smoke rising into the sky.
The stress was at its peak.
From Brossard, his son Maksym played the navigator, trying to dictate a safe route to Moldova.
At the border, the line was so large that it took two days to cross it, says the sixty-year-old. They found a room to sleep in, otherwise they waited too long in the car.
Once in Moldova, they took refuge in a church in Unguri, near the border. The Moldovan provided the roof and food for the fleeing Ukrainians.
They then returned to Romania, Iaşi Airport. His son had booked a flight for him from there. First to Warsaw, Poland, then to Toronto, where a relative was waiting for him.
She took her first bath after finally leaving there, she said.
She boarded the train to come to Quebec the next day. Completely drained, she said.
Already have a visa
Because of the offer, she already had a visa that would allow her to enter the country from August. His son and daughter-in-law have been living in Quebec since 2019 and now he came to visit them when his seven-month-old baby was born.
Tears and voice in her eyes tremble when she thinks of the luck that came here from the war. But, for everything she left behind.
“How should a mother feel when a son calls us after waking up from a bomb blast? She translates to her daughter-in-law. MMe Ishchenko has another son in Kiev, Ukraine, who wants to help the army.
Not sure when we can hug again. She does not know when she will be able to return to her country and what will be left of it.
The “unjustifiable” war
“This is unfair,” she said, annoyed by Russia’s war.
“I do not want anyone to pass by what we do,” says Svitlana Yurchenko.
“My heart breaks every time I call [mes proches]. I can not sleep until I get a message from my dad that he is fine, ”she continued.
He also urges the federal government to rush to raise visas for Ukrainians, without whom they could not come here and seek asylum.
She thinks of her four-month-old nephew, her brother-in-law, whom she wants to welcome here soon, and the mother of a toddler.
Ottawa on Friday promised to ease the process.
