Skip to content

To Ukraine with heart - funding campaign for Prince Rupert couple headed to warzone

“Help Save My Family” funding campaign for medical and safety supplies
28403285_web1_220317-PRU-Funding-Campaign-Iryna-Levkovytska_1
Iryna Levkovytska, a Prince Rupert Nurse flew to Poland to assist her family in Ukraine on March 7, is pictured in an older photo with her sister Kateryna Tiurina. A FreeFunder campaign has been established for medical and safety supplies and to assist with bringing her family to Canada. (Photo: supplied)

A Prince Rupert nurse who flew to Poland to help save her family in conflict-ravaged Ukraine has landed in Warsaw after an emotional flight, her husband Anatolii Levkovytskyi said, on March 8.

Levkovytskyi told The Northern View, his wife, Iryna Levkovytska described the capital city as so busy and packed with refugees that even a taxi is unobtainable.

A FreeFunder campaign has been set up to assist the Ukrainian couple, who made Prince Rupert home five years ago and are headed to the war-torn country to save their family members and ensure their safety.

“This fundraiser is to help bring my family home from Ukraine and to help buy supplies and medications for those in my family who remain in Ukraine,” Iryna a Prince Rupert Regional Hospital nurse stated.

“My Mom, my sister, her three children, and my husband’s brothers’ families remain in Ukraine. Every day it is becoming more and more dangerous for them to stay there. Supplies are running out, no medications,” she said on the funding page.

“Sadly, my mother is not able to leave due to health issues, and my husband’s brothers are staying to fight as they are conscripted to do so, but I am worried for my sister and her children…”

Levkovytska flew to Poland on March 7, where her sister and three children escaped the conflict and fled across the Ukrainian border on March 3. The intent is to bring back the family to Canada as soon as refugee or immigration documentation is processed.

The nurse’s husband, Anatolii Levkovytskyi, a Prince Rupert self-employed renovations contractor, is intending to travel to Ukraine next week to assist the family and help in whatever way he can. He told The Northern View on March 4, that even if his wife and her family return to Canada, he will remain overseas to assist the war efforts in whatever way he can.

“Every day, multiple times a day [my family] hear sirens warning of bombs. They hear planes overhead, and they fear for an attack,” his wife said.

Anatolii’s older brother is fighting on the front lines with the Ukraine Territorial Defence Forces (UTDF) in Khmelnytskyy, a city with a regular population of 300,000. The UTDF is an organization of civilians defending their cities and homes. They are fighting among destroyed buildings and cement rubble. They are fighting with sheer determination and will, he said.

“It’s not military. The Territory Defence is basically neighbours — they organize small groups of men. They don’t have the proper equipment. They don’t have helmets. They don’t have bulletproof vests,” he explained. “Yes, they have guns, but they don’t have any training. They will fight against regular forces, and they will stay to fight.”

“If anyone is able to assist, even a small amount, we would be eternally grateful. With your help, I will be able to get my family to a safe place and provide those who stay in Ukraine with supplies and medicine. It will give my family a chance to survive,” Iryna said.

To donate, click on the FreeFunder fundraising campaign or e-transfer to ilevkovytska@yahoo.com

READ MORE: Prince Rupert nurse and husband flying to Ukraine to save family