UKRAINIAN Islanders have spoken of their worry for family and friends living in the country after Russia’s invasion sparked fears of a major European conflict.
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s dawn announcement yesterday shook the world, with troops entering neighbouring Ukraine moments afterwards – followed by air strikes, explosions near big cities in the country and scenes of long queues of people trying to flee the capital, Kyiv, after waking up to war. One EU official described it as ‘among the darkest hours for Europe since the Second World War’.
Members of the Island’s Ukrainian community reacted with shock to the attack. Oksana Lynnyk, a nurse at the General Hospital, said her parents and two daughters were living in Ukraine and that she was worried for her home country.
‘I did not expect for this situation to evolve quite so quickly,’ she said. ‘Everyone knew it was coming – but the speed and the sheer volume of violence is a shock. I am actually in a state of shock.’
She said it was very ‘difficult to know what to do’ being in Jersey with ‘responsibilities’ here – her job, her patients, her partner and 14-year-old daughter Katya – and the rest of her family over 1,000 miles away in western Ukraine, near the Polish border.
One of her daughters living in Ukraine, Olya, is also a nurse and was expecting to be called up as a medical professional to support the country’s army at any time – despite only being 19. The other, Anna, is studying nursing, with Ms Lynnyk saying that Katya was upset at being separated from her sisters at a difficult time.
‘I am very worried for Ukraine, not just my family but for the state of Ukraine. I do not want the world to look on and do nothing, and also do not want the Third World War to start,’ she said.
Ms Lynnyk, who moved to Jersey in 2019, said she had been ‘overwhelmed’ by the ‘kind messages’ she had received from her friends in the Island and around the world.
‘I cannot fault the community in Jersey. Everyone I know has been very supportive. People are worried,’ she said, adding that she wanted to thank everyone for their support.
‘I have lived in the UK and Jersey for 18 years, but Ukraine is very much my motherland. I am really worried about what is going to happen to the country, because it is such a lovely country.
‘I have a very strong belief that most Russian people want peace as well. They do not want this either. I know people from Russia, nice people. It is very sad – the whole situation is scary and very sad,’ she said.
Lera Evered has lived in Jersey for 25 years and is originally from Kyiv, where her family still live.
She said: ‘At the moment everybody is in a state of shock. Not just Ukrainians but Russians here as well. Nobody can believe it. We thought “it literally cannot happen”, and it is happening.
‘I am hearing from people on the ground. It is an absolute shock.’
She explained that distressed family members had contacted her not knowing what to do.
Ms Evered, who appealed for a ‘halt to this aggression’, continued: ‘Our community here is shocked; no one expected that this blatant attack might actually happen.’
She urged people to donate to British-Ukrainian Aid, a charity that London volunteers started in 2014 to help victims of war in the wake of the annexation of Crimea. Its fundraising page can be found at justgiving.com/campaign/ukraine-aid-help-now.
Natalia Baker, from the eastern port city of Odessa, moved to Jersey three years ago and had been due to fly home last week but the flight was cancelled.
‘It is terrible there,’ she said. ‘The supermarkets are crazy, people are taking any food and shops are closing. People are scared to go outside. Nobody can believe it has happened.’
Meanwhile, members of the Russian and Ukrainian community in the Island sent out a message of solidarity, stressing that they were friends, not enemies.
One told the JEP: ‘We are trying to help each other in every possible way. We do not have anything to divide between each other.’
They added that they were trying to support each other as best they could, and hoped to organise events raising awareness of Ukraine, its history and how Islanders could help.
Last week, Islanders with families in Russia and Ukraine expressed ‘enormous worry’ over the escalating tensions. Members of a local community group, which also represents others from the ex-Soviet Union diaspora, said they were opposed to aggression ‘in any form’ and stood together.
