Yukon to Ukraine: how a group of Yukoners knew they had to do something
When the war in Ukraine started more than two years ago, a group of Yukoners knew they had to do something. The Ukrainian Canadian Association of Yukon is now on its third mission to the country to deliver medicine, medical supplies and equipment — all donated by Yukoners.
Jeff Sloychuk and Taras Yurkiv arrive at the Calgary International Airport with 20 large suitcases, all bound with duct tape and baggage tags reading “Yukon to Ukraine.”
Their trip has taken months of planning. Along with fundraising back home in Whitehorse, they’ve had to fill out dozens of documents and letters in order to transport their cargo of donated goods into Ukraine.
Their route: fly to Amsterdam, then head to Rotterdam, Netherlands, to pick up a Volkswagen transporter van that will become a medical evacuation vehicle, then drive it roughly 2,500 kilometers through Germany and Poland to Ukraine.
“When we pull in with this medical evacuation vehicle, when they see what we unload, it’s going to be an incredible moment,” said Sloychuk.
“We’re really excited to see our friends in Chortkiv, and Yuzhnoukrains’k, because they are like family at this point.”
For Taras Yurkiv, who was born in Lviv, in western Ukraine, the journey is especially meaningful. This will be his first trip delivering supplies with the Ukrainian Canadian Association of Yukon.
The grain elevators he used to play near as a child were bombed by Russia in June 2022, he said. The medical facility he was born in has been turned into a Ukrainian military base. Many landmarks rich with childhood memories have been destroyed, he said.
“I am pretty sure I am going to see metal wreckage … My eyes will get tearful,” he said.
“I feel like I have to be there.”
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To read the whole feature about the Ukrainian Canadian Association of Yukon trip to Ukraine, click here.
