Prayers this morning at Barrie’s Holy Cross Ukrainian Catholic Church lifted spirits among parishioners who are hoping for peace in their ancestral homeland.
People started pouring into the Parkside Drive church shortly before the service at 9 a.m. A member of the church community was hanging a Ukrainian flag outside the door as Slava and Oksana Yakusha pulled up in their van adorned with the now-familiar blue and yellow Ukrainian flag.
Oksana told BarrieToday her daughter, three grandsons, mother and brother are all still in central Ukraine, as is Slava’s entire family, heightening the level of concern for everyone involved. She hopes Canadians will learn more about what is really happening and come together to help Ukraine.
“Russia has a big propaganda machine that tells many lies and confuses even their own people about what is happening," she said. "We need to hear the stories and the voices of Ukrainian people. Ukraine is an independent country, we are a peaceful people. We do not want this; it is an invasion.”
Oksana said she's empowered by what she has been seeing from everyday people from back in Ukraine.
“These are people who are just normal people, who work everyday and go home to their families. They are picking up guns to stand in front of their home, the street corner, wherever needed,” she said.
Images of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky show him very active on social media and television before heading into combat himself, with photos being shared in the millions of him in army fatigues awaiting assignment.
Oksana believes it sends a strong message not only to Ukrainians, but to the world.
“After he was voted in, some people had doubts about the president, but since the invasion started, people put that aside to support him and every Ukrainian,” she said. “The small differences do not matter; what matters is our freedom. Ukraine must be free to be our own country, and from Canadians we need support from your heart.”
Oksana’s husband, Slava, told BarrieToday that while prayers are good, so is physical help.
“I am proud of the Ukrainian people back there who are fighting to protect the country. Many said Russia would come in and take Ukraine fast, but that has not happened,” he said. “Now, we are at a point of days, maybe hours, because the Russian empire is powerful and they have prepared for more than 30 years for this moment.
"We need help from the world. The time for talking was before, now it is time to fight and we can’t do it alone," Slava added.
The Yakushas directed their anger at Russian President Vladimir Putin and said “he is a dictator” who was allowed to get to this point.
“After Georgia, after Crimea, we did nothing to stop him. We all stood around and said, 'please don’t do it, please,' and politely talked to him,” Slava said. “Now look. The world has let Putin get away with too much and needs to stop him before it gets too late. He will not stop with Ukraine.”
During the church service, 19-year-old Christina Jmourko read an emotional prayer and plea for peace in English. Before Jmourko began, another man attempted to read a prayer in Ukrainian before becoming overcome by emotion and handing the letter to a woman near him to finish. Both letters brought tears to the eyes of many.
Jmourko told BarrieToday she was born in Canada, but has been to Ukraine many times. She said she's “connected to the land and loves that place.”
“We have family there. They are more on the west side, so currently not in as much danger. We spoke to relatives and they said there are constant updates on the TV telling residents to have a bag packed and a safe place prepared to flee to if needed,” she said. “Nothing has come to them yet, but they see the planes fly overhead as they go to the bigger cities.”
Jmourko said her family told her something that showed her the gravity of the situation. A huge rock has been placed in the middle of the roads leading to the village where her relatives live.
“Someone stands beside the rock while a person checks who is coming in and out. I was told they’re doing that to make sure Russians dressed as civilian Ukrainians don’t enter the village to set something off,” she said. “It reportedly happened elsewhere that a bomb was either set off or attempted to be and now even small villages are on guard.”
George Tysiak, 81, pulled aside a BarrieToday reporter to tell his story of another Russian invasion that happened when he was around four years old. The circumstances are very similar.
“My dad was an opera singer at a time when Germany was in Ukraine. He knew several German officers and one pulled him aside and told him to get the bags packed and get his family out because the Russians were coming and they couldn’t hold them back,” Tysiak said. “My parents got us all out of there and my dad and I would talk over the years; he would often say he hoped it wouldn’t happen again to a new generation. And here it is.”
Ann Grimak and her four children were at this morning's service to pray for their family back in Ukraine, who are in the hot zone of Mykolaiv.
“Right now, they have bags with them in the cellar where they are staying to be safe, but it is a very hard time. Our family lives in what is thought of as a more Russian area, so they are nervous,” Grimak said. “But this is an invasion that needs to stop and Putin is a criminal; he is doing his own dirty job and he needs to be held accountable.”
Grimak’s 17-year-old daughter, Ann Marie Strikoun, became emotional when speaking about what she had seen on TV.
“It's horrible and scary to know what is happening, but really worse when seeing it happen and knowing we have family who could be killed,” Strikoun said. “You feel so powerless and I just want the war to stop. I want the violence to stop.”
Strikoun’s 19-year-old brother, Anthony Strikoun, says he finds it hard to see videos on platforms such as TikTok about what is happening on the ground and people his age having to fight.
“It makes me want to go and help. Like, they’re my age and fighting for freedom. I just want to go over and help my culture and fellow Ukrainians. Watching the fight they’re putting up makes me feel empowered,” he said.
A recent update on the Russian invasion of Ukraine is that the two sides are set to meet for talks, with a location still being discussed.
Some countries have sent weapons to assist Ukraine while the United States, United Kingdom and other allies of Ukraine have announced stricter sanctions against Russia and even Putin himself.
Slava Yakusha said sanctions are no longer enough and left with a message he hopes people understand more.
“The world needs to think about this. Russia plus Ukraine gives Russia a huge industry. This lets Russia accumulate more land, more industry, more money and will have a huge impact on the world,” he said. “This type of thing has happened before a few decades ago, we cannot let it happen again.”
