THUNDER BAY — As Russia ramps up its military assault on Ukraine, two former Thunder Bay residents working in Kyiv are grateful their families are safe and secure, well away from the war zone.
They worry, however, for what lies ahead for the relatives and friends who remain in Ukraine.
Mark Sawchuk says the Russian attack caught many people by surprise.
"They were saying 'it just can't happen.' They thought it was a bluff, and that if it did happen, it wouldn't happen in Kiev. It would happen in the east, where the conflict has been going on since 2014," Sawchuk told TBNewswatch on Wednesday afternoon.
He was born and raised in Thunder Bay but has lived in Ukraine for 18 years.
Sawchuk is the country manager there for a major international consumer goods manufacturer.
As a Canadian citizen, he took the advice of the embassy last month and decided to keep his family in Dubai rather than return home to Kyiv following a brief vacation.
His wife is Ukrainian.
While hundreds of thousands of other people joined an exodus to neighbouring countries, Sawchuk's wife's parents and other family members have had to stay behind.
Like most others, he said, "they were caught...unfortunately it's a little too late to leave. The authorities are telling them to shelter in place, because the situation is too unpredictable. They're spending time in bomb shelters and so on, so it's not a good situation."
Sawchuk said his company has done what it can to provide support.
"The way we are acting towards our families is the way we are treating our employees. Making sure they have shelter, and making sure they have resources. We advanced their salaries for a month, and are looking to make sure they have the means to buy food and everything else. That is our top priority, for me as a family man and me as an executive."
Sawchuk said he and his wife are able to keep in regular contact with loved ones and workers in Ukraine because normal communications channels remain open.
He's hesitant to guess how successful the Russian attack will turn out to be.
"One thing I've learned is never to make predictions, because I was one of the people saying there will never be a war, and it will never be in Kyiv...But it doesn't look good. At the same time, there's a lot of local resistance."
Despite Russia's overwhelming military superiority, Sawchuk said Ukrainians deserve admiration for their determination not to surrender to the aggressors.
He gives a lot of credit for that to the leadership of President Volodymyr Zelensky.
"Every time he does a video, it's very inspiring. He's not fleeing. He's there with his team," he said.
Zelensky's words and actions are also winning the praise of another former Thunder Bay resident, Stephen Orlesky.
"He's stepping up to the plate. Prior to this, people were thinking he was somewhat mediocre. His speeches are very emotional," he said in an interview Wednesday.
On Feb. 12, Orlesky temporarily relocated his family to Frankfurt, Germany from Kyiv where he's been working in a state program for youth housing.
From his vantage point there, he said, it looks like the whole world is with Ukraine.
"I walked home from the office today. In Frankfurt, you buy your bus ticket at a terminal with a screen. On that screen was a Ukrainian flag that said Friendship and Freedom. It shows you how deep the support is."
Orlesky also pointed to Germany's reversal of its longstanding ban on the export of arms to conflict areas.
It announced this week that it would send 1,500 anti-tank and anti-aircraft weapons to Ukraine.
"That is a very significant move. They've basically done a 180 with their foreign policy in the space of one week."
Orlesky's work colleagues have left their jobs to join Ukraine's civil defence.
One female co-worker, however, finds herself in an especially precarious predicament in her home northwest of Kyiv.
"It is really an area of fierce fighting, and she's been holed up in her basement for five days. Who can fathom that, in this day, in a European country, someone has to live like that because of a military attack. It was quite close and quite touching" to hear that, he said.
