Niagara’s Ukrainian diaspora is on edge amid growing fears of a Russian invasion, after news yesterday that Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered military troops move into Ukraine's southeastern territories to carry out "peacekeeping duties."
“That’s not why [Putin] is there," said Irene Newton, branch president of the Ukrainian-Canadian Congress in Niagara. "He is there to get a foothold to slowly move into the country until he can reach the capital of Kyiv.”
A former Ukrainian resident with strong family ties to the country, Newton's phone has been going warm in recent weeks as global fears rise of a full-scale Russian invasion of her former home.
“Everybody is on edge right now,” she said. “It is like a blast from the past. It has happened before, and the west sat back and watched and said ‘they won't do it' while Hitler and Stalin divided Europe. That is what Putin seems to want to do again. He wants to recreate the Soviet Union.”
Newton said her relatives mostly live in the western part of Ukraine—still some distance away from the eastern regions, which has few viable escape routes for refugees, with Putin-friendly Belarus as the only other nearby border.
“They are stuck between a rock and a hard place," she said. "Some are trying to get their children out, while the men have said they will stay and fight and do anything they can to protect their country.”
For her relatives in the western part of the country, she has given the advice to try and cross into Poland if the situation escalates further.
At home in St. Catharines, Newton said her days are busy with calls with other levels of her organization, which organizes and promotes Ukrainians in Canada.
Last month, a large group gathered in Niagara Falls for a protest against Russian aggression. Newton said the group is planning another rally this Saturday to call for an end to the aggression.
“We are putting out calls for donations that go to the Canada-Ukraine Foundation if things escalate," she said. "It’s a humanitarian appeal for money to send supplies and health and hospital equipment to Ukraine if they should need it, especially for those running from the east coming from the west.”
Watching the televised speech from Putin the other night, Newton pointed to the frustration that appeared to be engulfing the Russian President.
“He had a lot of anger, frustration, and wanted to get done what he wants to get done" a de-stabilization of the countries, of NATO," she said. "I hope it does not come to that, but the man, to me, is not thinking straight.”
