Calgarians fleeing Russian occupation fear Kherson’s family

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The death of a friend who defends his hometown of Kherson is a painful memory for Anastasia Khaiduchenko.

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The lightly armed men died while trying to hold the strategic Antonovsky Bridge over the Dnipro River leading to the city in southern Ukraine, which was occupied by Russian forces at the start of the February invasion.

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“Many of my friends lost their lives trying to defend the city. They died on the bridge,” he said through tears.

“One of them called my husband and said, ‘You have to run. You can’t do this anymore.’ ”

Since then, the war on the Kherson Front has nearly come full circle, and after more than eight months of military occupation by Russia, Ukrainian forces approached to liberate the city and illegally annexed the area.

After fending off Russian troops patrolling the city and surrounding areas for two months, Haiduchenko and her husband fled, making their way through Russian-occupied Crimea into southern Russia, eventually ending up in Poland. I was.

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They came to Canada about four months ago. Liberation seems closer than at any time during the war, but she worries for the safety of her parents and grandparents.

“I try to tell them (Kherson) to leave every day . Chenko said.

“I don’t care about the house or what’s in it. I just care.”

But her parents, she said, didn’t want to leave their disabled and disabled grandparents behind.

When Russian forces occupied Kherson, she and her 26-year-old husband left the city to stay with relatives in a nearby village, Haiduchenko said.

She said the road connecting the two was littered with the rubble of heavy fighting, and Kherson was isolated by the invaders.

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“For the first month it was impossible to drive to Kherson. Many military and civilian vehicles were burned,” said Haiduchenko.

“This was like a road through a grave.”

However, the couple eventually returned to the Russian-occupied city to check on their parents, grandparents, and property.

She said it was a time of terror about Russian soldiers on the move, sometimes with the threat of death imposing a full-day curfew.

“Can you imagine the feeling of not being safe in your own home?” Haiduchenko said.

“I couldn’t walk the streets alone. If you meet a Russian soldier and they ask you to do something, you can’t say ‘no’.”

Haiduchenko said she expected the Russian military to check her phone and find guilty pro-Ukrainian content.

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After Russian soldiers came looking for Haiduchenko’s husband, the couple was finally convinced to leave.

Haiduchenko said he fears he will be forcibly recruited into the Russian army and used as bait to locate Ukrainian forces.

When they arrived in Calgary, they were greeted by families who left Crimea after being occupied by Russian forces in 2014.

“Russian soldiers stole the house, so it’s pretty much the same story,” she said.

Now the couple can only watch developments from Ogden’s home, hoping for the best but fearing the worst.

Ukrainian forces could engage in devastating street fighting to retake the city or besiege it, further crushing not only the Russian occupiers but also civilians stranded, including Hayduchenko’s loved ones. there is.

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Ukrainian officials say the Russians are trying to create the impression that they are withdrawing troops across the Dnipro River.

Haiduchenko, who keeps in touch with relatives via a text and photo app, said he was told the Russian military appeared to be strengthening Kherson.

“They say they still have an army in the city. My grandmother said there are still 30,000 (civilians) in Kherson,” she said.

“I don’t trust the Russians or their words.”

The Russians are also deporting or evacuating many of the city’s civilians to the other side of the Dnipro River while their troops commandeer empty houses, Haiduchenko said.

She suspects that residents displaced from Kherson will be used as human shields by the Russians to prevent Ukrainian forces from shelling their positions far south of the river. said.

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Retreating Russian troops looted Kherson’s homes, grocery stores and pharmacies, leaving little food or medicine, she said.

“They took everything. I can’t even buy food for my cat (the one left behind),” said the woman.

As a small gesture of defiance, her family agreed to allow Ukrainian soldiers marching on Kherson to use a house north of the city as shelter.

“This is all we can do for our soldiers,” she said.

For now, the couple is working at the job they secured after arriving in Calgary, and Haiduchenko said he has been sending money to his family and raising money for Ukrainian causes.

Ever since she left Kherson, she has been overwhelmed by the generosity of strangers who have helped the couple.

But even that realization leads to burning anger.

“How can it be that in one country (Canada) people are at peace and in another country it is not Russia,” Haiduchenko said, adding that he plans to remain in Canada.

“Even if this war is over, the Russians will prepare for the next one.

BKaufmann@postmedia.com

twitter: @BillKaufmannjrn