Winnipeggers with Ukrainian ties raise support from afar
Prairie Clay owner raises over $10,000 in less than 24 hours in support of Ukraine
A Winnipeg post-secondary student from Ukraine launched a fundraising raffle through her small business in an effort to help support her home country, which is under fire from Russian military forces.
Zoya Kostetsky endured a difficult and sleepless Wednesday night, while communicating with friends and family in Ukraine. She felt helpless and asked them what she could do to provide assistance.
"They're saying, donate to legitimate organizations in Ukraine that are actually helping troops and helping civilians and displaced people from their homes," she said.
The Prairie Clay owner, who emigrated from Ukraine in 2005 and is in the final semester of studying for an education degree at the University of Manitoba, thought the following on her small business' Instagram account might be able to net about $500 in donations, with 10 items donated to a cause in support of Ukrainians.
She vastly underestimated the support.
By Friday afternoon, Kostetsky had amassed over $10,000 in donations, with over 200 local businesses donating prizes to her raffle.
"I said to myself, this is not even in the realm of what I thought could happen," she said. "It's really amazing. It's just incredible."
Kostetsky plans to accept donations until 11:59 p.m. tonight, and announce the winners of six raffle prizes valued at about $1,000 apiece. The funds will be donated to at least three different Ukrainian charities: National Bank of UA Troops Account, Save Life UA and Hospitaleri, the latter of which is a group of Ukrainian doctors providing front-line care to wounded soldiers and civilians, says Kostetsky.
As the donations continue to pour in, however, her thoughts continue to drift back to Ukraine, and the tragedies that are continuing to unfold.
"People are absolutely stranded and it's just horrendous," Kostetsky said. "I just think of the people, and I hope that this can somehow at least do at least a little bit and help in some way just because we can't physically be there fighting on the front lines."
'They need help right now'
Kostetsky isn't the only Winnipegger standing up for her homeland.
Andriy Prymak, a mathematics professor at the University of Manitoba, also has family in Ukraine, as does his wife.
"It's a very hard situation and we don't know what's going to happen. We don't know if we'll be able to reach them in the next hour," he said Friday.
"It's very disturbing and for us we are asking what can we do here to help them."
Prymak urges Canadians to reach out to their government representatives, and ask them to accelerate the support Canada is providing to Ukraine. He says sanctions against Russia are good, but that Ukraine needs weapons, especially air defence weapons.
WATCH | Winnipegger worries for family in Ukraine as calls for aid grow:
"They need help right now because they are fighting every hour, every minute. They will not be able to stand there for a long time without outside help," Prymak said.
In addition to writing letters, sending emails and reaching out to politicians via social media, Prymak encourages Canadians to donate monetarily to Ukraine as logistic and medical supplies are also needed.
The federal government will match all eligible donations made through the Red Cross to Ukraine up to $10 million by March 18.
"It's not just a military war, it's also a war of information," Pymak added. "So the more people know what's really happening, the better."
Dmytro Malyk agrees with Pymak that Russia is also using propaganda against Ukraine and the western world.
Malyk, vice-president of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress, said Ukraine is a young democracy that is being destroyed by Russian artillery, and he wonders what Russian President Vladimir Putin is capable of unleashing.
He's glad western nations have started to act faster in this instance than after Russia annexed part of eastern Ukraine in 2014, but says it's not enough.
"Putin was very clear in his message that he will not stop. There is a real chance that he's not going to stop," Malyk said. "Who's next? What country is next?"
Malyk came to Winnipeg from the western Ukrainian city of Ivano-Frankivsk in 2014. His mother still lives there and she hid in the basement of the nine-storey apartment building she lives in after a warning siren went off Friday.
His aunt and cousins are in the southeastern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia, where fighting is more severe.
Members of Winnipeg's Ukrainian community will gather to express support for the right of Ukrainians to live in freedom and in peace in their own land on the steps of the Manitoba Legislature at 5 p.m. today.
Malyk will be there and encourages people without ties to Ukraine to also show up and provide support.
"The cost will be unbearable to Ukraine and it will be unbearable to the international community too," he said. "There is a high risk of huge humanitarian crisis there."
WATCH | Manitobans of Ukranian descent stand up for their homeland:
With files from Ian Froese