Winnipeg woman counting on simplified immigration process to bring family from Ukraine

On Monday, Anastasia Aslanova's mother, sister and two nieces finally crossed into Poland, after spending nights sheltered in an underground parking lot in Kyiv.

A Winnipeg woman has waited since the first day of Russia’s invasion into Ukraine to see her family find safety outside the war-torn country.

On Monday, Anastasia Aslanova’s mother, sister and two nieces finally crossed into Poland, after spending nights sheltered in an underground parking lot in Kyiv.

Meanwhile, Aslanova’s brother, who had to stay behind, is helping civilians leave his native Kharkiv.

The youngest niece, frightened by the alarms, would ask her grandmother, “Can you hear how my heart is quickly beating? Can you touch it? Am I OK?” Aslanova said.

The four attempted escaping sooner but turned back to avoid getting caught in traffic and running out of gas amid the hundreds of thousands trying to flee, queuing in their cars to the western border, she said.

A horrified, shaken Aslanova searched for safe routes out of the city for the family and their four pets — all the way from Winnipeg — eventually tracking their movements using her iPhone’s locating feature once they hit the road a few days ago.

“They jumped in the car in the early, early morning as soon as it was possible, because you’re not allowed to get out of the apartment like till 7, I think, a.m.,” Aslanova told Global News on Tuesday.

“They managed to make it (out of Kyiv). It was horrible, sleepless night here.”