Ukrainian families seeking refuge in Canada reflect on horrors of war on Remembrance Day

Sooke, B.C. -

War has torn Anna Bushuivea apart from her husband Oleh, who's back in Ukraine working as a barber — unable to leave the country because he's a healthy middle-aged man — while she seeks safety in Canada.

She calls him every day, and when he doesn’t answer the phone, it leaves her scared that he's been killed by a Russian attack.

“I get worried. It’s stressful,” she said.

Another harsh reality of being separated from her husband is that she relies on a phone app to tell her if bomb sirens are sounding back in her hometown at night.

“And then I know that should call my husband and wake him up,” Bushuivea says.

The 29-year-old is even more worried for her dad, who enlisted in the Ukrainian army at the age of 50.

“He told me, ‘What should I tell my sons when they will ask me what were you doing during the war.'"

Her father is fighting on the hot spot of the front lines, relying on a minivan to get around with fellow soldiers because the Ukrainian army can't afford more, so Bushuivea is fundraising to help buy him a 4x4 vehicle.

“I can’t sit tight and do nothing,” she says.

It’s a sentiment shared by Brian Holowaychuk, who owns the East Sooke property that Bushuivea and 31 other Ukrainian refugees are living at for free. He’s helping with her fundraiser.

“Our country is made up of people from all over the world and I think we understand that we can all get along, and I think that’s what makes it all the more appalling,” says Holowaychuk.

The horrors of this latest war hit home especially hard on Remembrance Day for Alla Pavlikhin, a Ukrainian who's lived in Langford for decades but who's brother is fighting for the Ukrainian army.

Her best friend, Serhey, was killed earlier this year and she worries — more than 8 months into the Russian invasion — the war has become old news, despite the ongoing trauma.

“Considering that people in Ukraine – innocent people – are dying and putting their lives on the line, fighting for freedom,” she says.

Freedom – and safety – that have drawn so many Ukrainians to Canada’s shores, and which seem so far away for so many loved-ones left behind.