Canadians in Ukraine stay put, despite evacuation orders: ‘It’s the right thing to do’

Jack Linton arrived in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv about a month ago, just as Global Affairs Canada began advising Canadians not to travel to the country as the threat of war with Russia mounted.

But Linton, from Oakville, Ont., had been planning to permanently relocate to Ukraine for months and didn’t consider the warnings severe enough to put off his trip.

Even now, two days after Russian President Vladimir Putin recognized the independence of two breakaway regions of Ukraine and deployed forces there, Linton says the situation on the ground in Kyiv is “calm” and he is resolute in staying put.

“I’m keen on staying right now because I had the option to leave weeks ago, right? And I just thought that it’s the right thing to do to stay,” Linton says.

Linton shares a similar sentiment to many Canadians in Ukraine, who have decided to remain in the country amid Russian troop deployments in the east, despite several warnings from Global Affairs Canada to leave the country while commercial flights remain available.

A senior government official told Global News earlier this month that they were concerned about the number of Canadians who had not yet left, urging them to leave.

At a press conference on Tuesday to announce new sanctions on Russia, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told Canadians in the country that their “safety and security are a top priority.”

This was followed by a strong message from Minister of Foreign Affairs Melanie Joly: “Let me also be clear to Canadians who are in Ukraine, please leave the country.”

Putin’s move on Monday followed days of heightened tensions in the country’s east, where an eight-year conflict between Ukrainian forces and Russia-backed separatists has left more than 14,000 people dead.

Global Affairs Canada has been warning against non-essential travel to Ukraine since mid-January as threats of a full-scale Russian invasion loomed.

Global News spoke to almost a dozen Canadians currently in Ukraine, all but one of whom had decided to stay put for now. Some referenced difficulty uprooting lives and families, while others spoke of the calm atmosphere in the country and said it seemed unlikely a full-scale war would break out. However, most said they had an emergency plan and would leave if fighting became more widespread.

Linton, who is half-Ukrainian and travelled to the country to “reclaim my heritage,” says despite the flare-up of international tensions, people in Kyiv remain “calm, but ready.”

“A lot of people here are walking around with smiles on their faces,” Linton says.

“If you walk down the street, you have no idea anything is actually happening because nobody complains. Nobody is under the impression that something bad will happen.”

Linton says that while many people in Kyiv he has spoken to have emergency plans in place, should the situation worsen, he believes he will stay, regardless. He speaks Russian and plans to enroll in university in Ukraine to study science.

He says many of the Ukrainians he knows say they are prepared to stay and fight, should the time come. When asked if he would do the same, he said, “I’ll cross that bridge when I get there.”

He acknowledges that his parents have asked him to return home, but says he has reassured them that he is safe.

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“The fear is not here, the fear is everywhere else,” he says.

Last week, Canada shuttered its embassy in Kyiv and relocated its diplomatic staff to a temporary office in Lviv in the western part of the country, “due to the rapidly deteriorating security situation.”

Mike O’Leary, from Edmonton, has lived in Lviv for six years.

After initially moving for work as a medical researcher, O’Leary went on to start his own business. He and his family remain in Lviv, where O’Leary says most expats he has spoken to currently feel “safe,” due to its location. Lviv is less than 100 kilometres from the Polish border.

However, he says his “worries have increased” since Monday evening, when Russian troops entered the country, and he is ready to evacuate should the situation worsen.

“This morning when I woke up I realized that the U.S. embassy had left Lviv. When the U.S. is here everyone feels a bit safer,” he says.

“I’m in contact with a lot of expats. It’s a mixed bag, some have their ‘go’ bags and some aren’t worried at all.”

O’Leary says he “never considered leaving” in January when Global Affairs Canada warned Canadians in the country to leave.

“For me and my family … we felt like it was an overreaction. We took our cues from our Ukrainian friends.

“It gives us a lot of comfort knowing that everyone around us aren’t freaking out.”

O’Leary says if fighting breaks out of the separatist areas of Ukraine he will evacuate to Poland and wait it out there for a couple of months.

However, he says he hasn’t received any emails from Global Affairs Canada for almost a week and believes their recent communication on the situation has been lacking.

Global Affairs refused to respond to all questions from Global News on the situation in Ukraine, including on how many Canadians they believe remain and concerns over a lack of communication for those who are still there.

Michael Lahoda, from Brantford, Ont., relocated from Kyiv to Lviv in February as the situation became “tense.”

About 10 days ago, his company, Wix, moved employees and their families to Antalya, Turkey, to “decompress and destress,” he says, and have been given the option to return to Ukraine or stay abroad after Feb. 28.

Lahoda says he is “50/50” on what he will do, but says in Lviv, “no one is openly worrying” about the situation.

“This has been going on for eight years, so … nothing’s changed,” he says.

“I still get notifications (on Telegram) all throughout the day about what the next party is, what the next art exhibits are opening up, who’s playing the next concert. Everything’s pretty much same old, same old.”

He admits he feels unsettled by the threat of war but says he will make a decision on whether to evacuate when the time comes.

“It’s more of a day-by-day, hour-by-hour sort of thing on what decisions you have to make. Because again, it’s not like people are jumping up and panicking right now. And that’s kind of the important thing, to keep a level head in this situation.”

Christopher Glover, from Ottawa, has lived in Kyiv for 12 years. He and his wife and their two children recently relocated to Lviv, to an AirBnb, due to the worsening situation.

Glover says that while the general feeling is that widespread war will not break out, he felt it was “irresponsible when you have two young children to gamble so much on a hunch.”

He says he has not yet evacuated the country because it’s now his home.

“We own a home, we have savings here. When we were packing to leave for Lviv, I really hoped we’d be coming back,” Glover says.

“We have a good life here and we don’t want to give it up.”

Glover says he has been reassured by news from inside Ukraine, from the military, that the situation is not as serious as it seemed in the international media.

However, he says a regime change would be a “deal-breaker.” Currently, one of his favourite aspects of the country is that it’s “a hospitable country and they really like foreigners.”

Darren Snow, from Vancouver, moved to Kyiv eight years ago to work in IT. He says he hasn’t left because he has two children there that he shares with his Ukrainian ex-wife.

He says people are generally calm in the capital, but also “everyone is ready to fight.”