A Ukrainian who has been giving her family in the war-torn country safety advice from Ireland has said she is very anxious and branded Vladimir Putin a war criminal.
Ksenija Gorodniuk is extremely concerned about parents Pablo, 54, mother Natalia, 49, and her 14-year-old sister Maria, relatives and friends in her home city of Sarny.
The 26-year-old is also very worried about her grandfather Volodymyr and grandmother Halina in Ochakiv district, Mykolaiv region, about 10km from regular bombing.
On Thursday February 24 2022, Russia launched a land, sea and air invasion of Ukraine, which has devastated the lives of millions.
Ksenija was born and raised in her native country and moved to Ireland seven years ago and lived in Dublin before relocating to Killarney, Co Kerry in 2019.
Ksenija, who speaks with her parents, sister and grandparents on a daily basis, said: “The first few days I was drowning in pain and tears, I was going from denial to being completely numb, to wanting to scream and feeling sorry for myself.“
The e-commerce executive shares information with her family and friends from the Ukrainian ministry of defence and from the blog of a humanitarian who has survived extreme danger in Syria, Pakistan and Lybia.
Ksenija said: “I share with my family and friends any information I get about the borders, requirements for crossing, I’m sharing it with anyone who needs it.
“There is a way of taping windows with cellotape and creating a mesh that goes across all of the window.
“It stops the glass from flying across the house so when the bomb lands nearby the glass won’t fall and won’t hurt anybody as it can possibly kill a person.
“[I told them] to get all of the supplies, warm blankets, any heaters that they have, candles, anything that can keep them alive and healthy in the basement.
“I have friends in big apartment blocks and I have advised them to stay in both the corridors of their own apartments and in the shared corridors between apartments as much as possible because there are no windows and it means it’s safer.
“Other advice is to turn off gas and electricity when sirens are going and there are alerts about possible air attacks.”
Ksenija said a large number of her friends and neighbours have travelled to the Polish, Romanian and Hungarian borders as refugees.
She added: “My friends who have kids, [and I’ve told them] they have to make little notes with contact details of their parents and relatives and attach them to the children's jackets in case if there is an evacuation or they are fleeing the child is not lost.
“It’s just to be aware and cautious.
“When I last spoke to my family on Tuesday they had no plan to leave because it’s way too dangerous.
“And most of the people I know, if they were considering leaving now they’re thinking that this is their land and they have to do something to stop the war and the invasion and help all of those who decided to stay.
“The unity, I’ve never seen anything like it, everybody I know is doing something.”
Ksenija, who praised her employers Corcoran’s Furniture for their support, said her godmother Elena’s husband is in the Ukrainian army and they receive regular updates.
Her hometown of Sarny is just 60km from the Belarus border - a country that hosted Russian troops prior to the invasion.
Ksenija added: “My family are relieved that I am not there and like every parent they would not ask me to come and they are trying to calm me down by saying, ‘We are OK’, no matter how scared they are.
“If I believed I would be more help in Ukraine I probably would go.
“I don’t support war and violence.
“There are people who are cooking and delivering dinners, they are sewing clothes, they are helping hospitals and looking after the children of those who had to flee.
“When I think about Ireland I can think about my friends, my work colleagues, my employer, my partner and everybody I know here who has reached out and is offering emotional support and actual material support.”
Ksenija is grateful for the support of her partner Trevor and his colleagues at Nordex Kerry team who have donated a lot of essential items that are being sent to Ukraine.
She was emotional as she hit out at Vladimir Putin’s actions and said: “I see Putin as a president who doesn’t care about his people because he sent them to war and this is not their war.
“This was a decision for one person and he is a war criminal and what he is doing to Ukraine is a genocide and what he is doing to his own people is a genocide.”
Ksenija, who believes the Russian ambassador to Ireland Yury Filatov should not be expelled, added: “I feel a lot of compassion towards Russian people and Russian mothers and relatives that have lost or cannot find their loved one because of this war and maybe the news they get here through the non-corrupt media can share the real situation.”
