A North Tyneside woman collecting humanitarian aid to send back to her beleaguered Ukrainian homeland has likened Russian President Vladimir Putin to Hitler.
Alina Kanishchuk, who runs the Sushi Yammi Japanese restaurant in North Shields with her husband, Jon Kazakrv, has around 30 relatives trapped in the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, some of whom have taken up arms in the wake of last week’s Russian invasion.
Alina, Jon, and father-in-law Yuri Kazakrv, who is currently stranded in the UK as Putin’s troops continue to pound Kyiv with airstrikes, have barely slept since Russia invaded its neighbour on February 24.
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Yuri and his wife, Sveta, had been visiting North Shields when Russian troops began massing on the Ukrainian border.
Sveta, 58, who works in medical administration, was called back to Kyiv in the middle of February as tensions mounted between Ukraine and its vastly more powerful neighbour.
Now she’s trapped nearly 1,500 miles away in Kyiv as the advancing Russian army prepares to besiege the city and its near three million inhabitants.
Alina, 29, who came to the UK and settled in North Shields eight years ago following her marriage to fellow Kyivan, Jon, 38, said: “We are monitoring the situation constantly, day and night. We have hardly slept. We are in contact with my sister, Ruslana, and mother-in-law via Facebook and WhatsApp. It is an extremely worrying time.
“We have up to 30 relatives living in Kyiv, some of whom are children, and we are worried sick. They’re living underground in basements and car parks to try and protect themselves, and some of my male cousins have taken up arms to defend Ukraine.
“There have been big explosions near where Ruslana lives and we are feeling very helpless. Despite the heroic Ukrainian resistance, more and more explosions are being reported.
“We don’t understand how or why it has come to this. I think Putin has gone mental. After 20 years of being Russia’s most powerful politician, I think he has lost his mind.
“I think he has forgotten what it is like to be an ordinary person and the power has gone to his head.
“He is acting like a Hitler, and like Hitler he now wants to take all of Ukraine for himself.
“But that is not going to happen. Why should we give the country to him? The people of Ukraine would rather die than let that happen."
Alina – mother to Nichole, 10, and Olivia, six - has a simple message for Putin: “Go to hell.”
And she added: “Somebody has to stop him.”
Alina says Yuri, 56, who has health issues and works as a taxi driver in Kyiv, is understandably anxious for his wife’s safety, and like the rest of the world can’t believe what is unfolding in Ukraine.
“He has no idea when he will see Sveta again. He is watching the news and he can see the danger. Sveta felt she had to go back and then 10 days later Ukraine is at war.
“She has 18 months left before she no longer has to work and she didn’t want to lose her pension.”
According to the United Nations refugee agency, more than one million people have so far fled Ukraine since the country was invaded last week. Around 350 Ukrainian civilians are thought to have been killed and over 2,000 injured, according to the country’s emergency services.
Hundreds of buildings – including hospitals, transport hubs, government facilities and homes – have so far been destroyed in Russian air and land strikes.
Ukraine claims nearly 7,000 Russian troops have been killed – a figure denied by Moscow, whose defence ministry has put the figure at 498 since the start of the invasion.
Not wanting to stand idly by as they have watched the harrowing footage being beamed across the globe from their homeland, Alina and Jon – who also has a 12-year-old son from a previous relationship and has lived in the North East for the past 16 years - have been collecting vital humanitarian aid to send back to Kyiv.
Thanks to the generosity of their Sushi Yammi customers and Morrisons Tynemouth, they have collected a van load of baby food, formula milk, nappies, feminine sanitary products, shampoo, painkillers and dried foods, as well as first aid kits, sterile dressings, sleeping bags, rucksacks and socks to be distributed to the Ukrainian army.
Newcastle Rubbish Taxi will be taking these donations and others collected from across the area to London, from where volunteers will transport the aid onward to the Ukraine.
Alina said: “People have been amazing. I’m actually shocked by their generosity. We did not expect such crazy support. But I think people have been watching the news, seen what’s been unfolding, seen how Ukraine is being torn apart, and they have been moved to do something.
“I can’t express how grateful we are for all the donations and we and our country will not forget this.”
Anyone who would like to donate aid for the Ukraine can drop items off at Sushi Yammi, 34 Spence Terrace, North Shields, NE29 0JE.
