Displaced Ukrainians begin new life in Saskatchewan

A group of Ukrainians who fled the war at home are waking up to a new life in Saskatchewan, they arrived in Regina Monday night on a humanitarian flight from Poland.

The newly arrived Ukrainians spent Tuesday exploring the University of Regina campus, which is where they will be living for the next two weeks. The Storozhenko family heard about the flight to Regina by chance through social media.

“Very difficult decision,” Serhii Storozhenko said. “We made it at the last moment because it’s not just another country, it’s another part of Earth. So everything we know about Saskatchewan, we know it just the last few days so we don’t know what we can do with this information at this moment, but I know there are a lot of Ukrainians and it’s very good for us, so we will have some help from them.”

Two hundred and thirty people fleeing war in Ukraine arrived in Regina Monday night. Mazar Soroka came by himself and plans to get a job and study.

“I will study here [at the U of R] I guess,” Soroka said.

The humanitarian flight was organized by a group called Open Arms. The passengers are grateful for the help.

The Boeing 787 that brought the group to Regina had a strong anti-war message on the fuselage and a photo that once changed the course of the Vietnam war. One of the children in that photo from 50 years ago is now a Canadian and was onboard the flight to offer encouragement to those now fleeing today’s war.

“So I am so thankful for being a part of this trip to receive all of the Ukraine refugee people to Canada and I am so thankful that Enrique Pineyro had that idea to put my picture on his airplane and bring the people to Canada,” former Vietnamese refugee Phan Thi Kim Phuc said.

The aircraft is owned by Argentinian actor, film director and pilot Enrique Pineyro, who said he is trying to mitigate some of the disastrous consequence of the Russian invasion.

“We try and take them wherever we are accepted with refugees, and hospitality in Canada is legendary,” he said.

This aircraft has now made several flights to destinations worldwide carrying Ukrainians to their new homes. Those behind the operation hope that several more flights can be made to Canada.