Saskatoon woman hopes mother will escape Ukraine

Saskatchewan is getting ready to open its doors to Ukrainians displaced by the Russian invasion — and one Saskatoon woman hopes her mother is among them.

Tetiana Hrystenko talks to her mom via Skype video twice a day. They speak in Russian, common in the southern city of Kherson where she lives, and a city Hrystenko says is now under Russian control.

“My mom says since the Russians took over they’ve changed all the TV channels. Right now there are about 10,000 soldiers inside my small city and they’re everywhere,” Hyrstenko said.

She’s lived in Canada for 16 years and before the war started she’d visit her mom a few times a year.

It’s difficult for her to hear what’s going on in her city of about half a million people, which is close to Crimea and sits on the shores of the Dnipro River. She’s an artist and draws many scenes of the city.

Her mom lives with her sister and small baby. They have gone to a neighbour's cellar for safety from bombing in the last few weeks, but at 70 years old, that routine is getting exhausting.

“She said to my sister, take the baby and go. I’m tired, I will just go under the table and hide,” she said.

She fears for their safety every day.

“My thoughts are just like an explosion of ideas and desires. I wish to have a machine to put my hand there and bring them here,” she says.

Leaving is not possible for those in Kherson now, according to Hrystenko, because there are military blockades on the border of the city. Friends tell her attempts to leave are futile.

“One family with two kids was killed in their vehicle. [Russian soldiers] just killed them,” she says.

For now, her family has food with neighbours sharing what they have. Medicine is in short supply and that is a concern for Hrystenko since her mom is elderly.

She is trying to remain positive, keeping her sights set on a time when they get out of the city.

“As soon as the green road will be opened and they’ll let people go, I will beg my mom to leave her house, leave the city and go to the border.”

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced Thursday that Canada is expediting refugee applications and also developing an emergency travel stream for Ukrainians, eliminating many of the normal visa requirements. The government has allocated $117 million for the effort.

The Ukrainian Canadian Congress in Saskatchewan is setting up a special group to help with the expected influx of displaced Ukrainians.

Iryna Matsiuk, a UCC member, says hundreds are expected at first and that could balloon to thousands. The group has about 100 people in Saskatchewan already agreeing to take in the refugees.

“We are waiting on clarification from the province on health care and medical coverage, as well as education for the children, employment and mental health support,” Matsiuk, told CTV News.

Some families in the province are already in the process of bringing displaced Ukrainians who are family or friends to their homes, according to Matsiuk.

Hrystenko continues to create art depicting Kherson and many of those pieces are for sale at Calories restaurant on Broadway Avenue in Saskatoon. A portion of the proceeds from the sale will go to Ukraine.