As civilians face attacks, Ukrainian Canadian Viktor Pavlyshyn explained concerns for his home country and how he believes Canada has no power to stop Russia..“I did not believe this would actually happen,” Pavlyshyn told the Western Standard Thursday..He said he has many relatives in Ukraine, with great grandparents and uncles living in and around the capital, Kyiv..Pavlyshyn said his uncle woke up to explosions in Kyiv at 5 a.m. Thursday, and immediately grabbed cash and his son and left to stay with family members away from the city..His uncle had to leave his dentistry business with hundreds of thousands of dollars in equipment behind, not knowing what will happen..“Sadly, peaceful Ukrainians will be affected by these unlawful and criminal actions by Putin and his administration,” said Pavylshyn..“Ukraine has to join NATO right now, NATO must deploy troops immediately because there’s no way Ukraine can fend off Russian alone.”.Pavlyshyn immigrated to Canada in 2009 with his immediate family, but he spent half his life in Ukraine and regularly travels back to visit..“I did not think this would actually happen, I’ve been to Ukraine twice since the Donbas invasion and it has never been this bad,” he said..His great grandmother, a 92-year-old retired engineer, lives outside Kyiv and doesn’t plan to leave her residence even under war..Her words to family were “the young generation can live, we are not needed.”.Pavlyshyn said he doesn’t have hopes for sanctions from the west to stop Russian aggression..“Russia has its own production of oil and gas, as well as many reserves,” he said adding Canada and others can impose as many sanctions as they want, but they won’t intimidate Russian President Vladimir Putin..“For Putin, this is all about territory, he doesn’t care about money,” Pavlyshyn said..“The Russian stock market plummeted and many big investors lost 65% of their wealth, they are not happy. But still, he doesn’t care.”.Ewa Sudyk is a reporter with the Western Standard.esudyk@westernstandardonline.com
