‘I can’t believe that I actually made it:’ Displaced Ukrainians speak about leaving their home

Tetiana Huzhva and her family are relieved to finally be in Canada after a tumultuous journey from Ukraine.

Huzhva, her husband and their two kids were on one of the two flights that landed in Regina late Wednesday evening.

Huzhva spoke Friday through Svitlana Kenyuk, a Ukrainian-English translator.

For the Huzhva family, war first began in 2014 when they had to vacate their home in the Donetsk region. When the latest Russia invasion began in February, they were living in Bucha.

“They were sitting in bunkers for days and days,” Kenyuk said, translating Huzhva’s words. “They didn’t have power, they didn’t have gas and they were starving.

“She says it was one of the most hard situations in their lives.”

The Huzhva family tried to escape multiple times with no success because their vehicle was attacked by Russians. They finally escaped through a humanitarian aid rescue mission.

“The family just barely escaped from Bucha,” Kenyuk said as she continued telling their story. “But it was very hard and very scary.”

From Bucha, the Huzhvas travelled to Warsaw, Poland and then flew to Canada. On Friday, they began arranging their personal documents so they can begin their new life in Canada.

The Saskatchewan government and two humanitarian organizations arranged the flights, as well as the event Friday at the Ramada Plaza by Wyndham.

A group of displaced Ukrainian citizens at the Ramada Plaza by Wyndham. (Gillian Massie/980 CJME)

“She is just amazed at how organized things are here and how welcoming everyone has been,” Kenyuk said on behalf of Huzhva.

Tetiana’s 16-year-old son, Ivan, said he is excited to go back to school for the first time since February. He hopes he can start his favourite hobby, paper mache, very soon.

While the Huzhvas arrived all together, one 15-year-old girl travelled without her parents.

Sofia Buriacheke was on one of the flights with her 12-year-old-brother. Her grandmother and parents are still in Ukraine.

Buriacheke was living in Kyiv when the war first broke out. She went to live with her relatives because it was too dangerous to stay at her parents’ house.

Buriacheke’s father is currently serving in the Ukrainian war.

“I miss him,” she said. “I haven’t seen him for a while.”

Buriacheke’s relatives’ house was near a train station, which was a target of many Russian bombs. She says she remembers waking up in the morning to all the windows being blown out of her house.

After bombs hit the railway near her relatives’ house, they made plans for her and her brother to leave Ukraine. When her family did not have enough money to leave Ukraine, they made plans to find a free flight.

When Wednesday’s flight from Poland to Regina came around, Buriacheke said she had hours to prepare before busing to Poland.

“I can’t believe that I actually made it,” said Buriacheke. “It feels very different.”

She was very excited to see all the people in Saskatchewan come to help.

“It’s amazing,” said Buriacheke. “I can’t believe there’s such a great help for Ukrainians (from) all these people.”

Buriacheke will be entering Grade 9 this year and is excited to take Art class again.

The provincial government announced Friday it had signed a memorandum of understanding with Solidaire and Open Arms — two international humanitarian organizations — to bring a total of five flights of displaced Ukrainian people to Saskatchewan by March 31 of next year.

The five flights include the two that departed Poland for Saskatchewan on July 4 and this past Wednesday.