For Nataliia Savenko, the Russian invasion of Ukraine is hitting close to home.
Savenko has lived in Lloydminster for 10 years. She was born in Russia, but moved to her father’s home of Ukraine as a child.
Now, the streets she once walked are turned to rubble.
“It’s heartbreaking,” Savenko says, referencing the pictures of her destroyed village — about 30 minutes from the city of Mykolaiv.
While some of Savenko’s friends have fled the country, she worries about her father who is still there.
“I just hope that he is safe right now, but I don’t have any means of connecting with him,” Savenko says.
Meanwhile, she is trying to reunite with her friend from university who has taken refuge in Hungary.
“She’s with her son. They heard rocket launchers hitting the houses around them and at that moment they grabbed whatever they could and went to the railway station,” she says.
“But her husband stayed in Kyiv, he’s fighting.”
While she’s relieved her friend is safe in Hungary, Savenko says she’s alone.
“The only people they know who are not in Ukraine is my family,” Savenko says.
“So I’m trying to bring her over here, so her son can go to school and she can stay with me in safety.”
Like so many others, Savenko is hoping for peace.
“I really hope I’ll get to return one day and they will be free and prosperous,” she says.
“I’m willing to put all my efforts to help them out to rebuild because you know, you can rebuild all that…. but the lives that are lost during this invasion. You cannot bring back the people.”
Savenko, who runs an alteration business, is sewing and selling Ukrainian flags, with all proceeds going to The Red Cross.
She urges others to help Ukraine in the ways they can.