Windsor Ukrainians worry for relatives and friends as Russian invasion enters 6th day
CBC
Marina and Mark Sarty say they're calling relatives back home in Cherkasy, Ukraine, daily to ensure they're safe.
Mark was a longtime Windsor resident, but lived in Ukraine with his wife Marina for three years before the couple moved to Canada in 2019.
Now, they're desperate for information from family and friends in Marina's native city Cherkasy, located about three hours away from the capital of Kyiv.
"It's very dangerous everywhere right now, but in Cherkasy today is very bad," Marina said on CBC Radio's Windsor Morning Tuesday.
"Every 10 minutes they hear a siren, they don't leave bomb shelters at all, they sit underground and are waiting if rockets will hit Cherkasy."
Russia's invasion of Ukraine is now in its sixth day. It has been pounding civilian targets in Ukraine's second-largest city of Kharkiv, and a convoy of tanks and other vehicles continues to threaten the capital, Kyiv. Throughout the country, many Ukrainian civilians spent another night huddled in shelters, basements or corridors.
The Sartys say they're relying on first-hand accounts, rather than the news, to get a clear understanding of what's happening to their loved ones in Cherkasy. Mark said there is a lot of misinformation being spread about what's actually going on.
"We believe our family and friends in Cherkasy, and we know from them what's going on, particularly in our city, because they send us pictures, and they send us videos every day," he said.
"When we see the video online of Cherkasy being bombed and a big mushroom cloud coming out of it, it's completely untrue, or we wouldn't still be talking to our friends and family."
Marina said her relatives and friends have had trouble getting groceries, and have been staying underground the last few days waiting for it to be safer.
"Right now, it's impossible because it's very dangerous [to leave]. They're so far from the border, it's like 900 kilometres to the Poland border," said Marina.
"It's very dangerous to leave the city right now because there are Russian soldiers everywhere right now."
Rallies and prayer services are being held in Windsor to support Ukraine amid the Russian invasion.
Father Tom Hrywna, parish priest at Saints Vladimir and Olga Ukrainian Catholic Church, said he has found himself "asking God for the strength and the right words" to offer people.