Nobody from the civilian population wants a war nor should civilians suffer from political games, says Oksana Semerneva.
Semerneva is a newcomer who moved from Odesa, Ukraine to Timmins last fall. She lives here with her husband Pavlo who’s also Ukrainian.
In light of today’s news of Russia attacking Ukraine, Semerneva said she is feeling anxious.
She said her parents and family in Odesa are safe but she is still worried.
“Because Odesa is close to the border and it’s a strategic object, so we’re scared,” she said. “It’s also harder now because there is a lot of fake news that spreads panic. There’s a lot of information, you don’t know what to believe.”
She said there were long lines at gas stations and grocery stores with people buying water, non-perishables and hygiene products as well as traffic jams on the way out of the city.
As a person with a journalism background, Semerneva said she understands that the abundance of news gives people an illusion of being informed and intensifies their worry.
“We have to critically perceive information coming from the media,” she said. “Don’t get stuck on one source. Verify and search for information from multiple sources, analyze it.”
Semerneva added it’s important not to panic and not to blame Russian citizens as many of her friends and acquaintances living in Russia say they don’t support any military actions.
“Nobody wants that. It’s scary and painful for everyone,” she said.
Another Timmins resident Orest Lawryniw, whose friends and family members live in Ukraine, said he is on edge and disappointed.
He has a cousin in Kyiv as well as cousins, uncles and aunts living in Western Ukraine.
“It’s really heart-wrenching. I want everybody to know our thoughts are with them and, everybody, just pray for (Ukrainians) because they need it right now,” he said.
Lawryniw, whose parents immigrated to Canada from Ukraine, was born and raised in Timmins. In 2002, he visited Western Ukraine with his son and father.
“Putin wants Ukraine because it’s a very rich country as far as natural resource … It’s a self-sustaining country and he wants all that back,” Lawryniw said.
In Lawryniw’s opinion, the Canadian government needs to impose sanctions and expel any non-Canadian Russian citizens.
“I’m not saying to harm anybody but they have to get really tough and put their foot down and say, ‘Everybody out, that’s it,” he said.
In a Feb. 23 statement, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Canada stands with Ukraine and there will be “severe consequences” to Russia’s actions.
Lawryniw said it was an unsettling situation and it is going to escalate to a “major European conflict.”
“I don’t want to call it World War 3, that’s a huge step,” he said. “It’s not going to be a war on the ground. It’s going to be a war through the Internet, they’re going to shut down the banking. There are more ways to hurt the country now than shooting.”
After the interview, Lawryniw received a message from a cousin in Mukachevo in Western Ukraine.
The message read that his cousin’s son and his family left Kyiv and were on their way to Mukachevo. There was traffic on the road and long queues at gas stations, according to Lawryniw.
The interview with Semerneva was conducted in Russian.
