Tears and disbelief: Montreal’s Ukrainian community reflects on 1 year of war

Angel Zytynsky can hardly believe it’s been an entire year.

On the eve of the one-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the owner of Zytynsky’s Deli in Montreal says the war is always on her mind.

“I can’t believe it’s a year already and that Ukraine is still going through this. I feel for them,” said the third-generation Canadian with Ukrainian ancestry.

“Everybody should have courage and be strong. And we’ll get through this. We’ll get through it.”

Zytynsky says the past year has been extremely difficult.

The war in Ukraine that began Feb. 24, 2022, has killed thousands, forced millions to flee their homes, reduced entire cities to rubble.

Russian President Vladimir Putin launched the invasion, calling it a military operation aimed at demilitarizing Ukraine. It was met with instant condemnation from the West.

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It’s something Zytynsky discusses with her customers at the Rosemont-La-Petite-Patrie deli on a daily basis.

“Every customer, every day we talk about the war and we talk about how one man can do all this,” she said. “And it’s not easy, but we start talking.

“One customer, a good friend of mine, Brian, I said, ‘I feel like a psychologist because I’m listening to all of this.’ He says, ‘no, no, you’re more like a bartender.’”

Making Ukrainians feel at home

Along with simply talking with customers, Zytynsky says her goal is to make Montreal’s Ukrainian community feel at home where they enter her store.

“I bought a lot of Ukrainian groceries for them. There’s cookies and non-alcoholic beer and Ukrainian water,” she said. “And when they come in here, they feel like at home.

“And during the summer there were three or four customers in the store and a little girl came in with her mom and she says to her mom… ‘this is like at home in Ukraine.’ So everyone started crying and clapping and they’re all really, really happy that a six-year-old is saying that she felt at home. So it was touching, honestly.”

Zytynsky also says she’s committed to helping the community through small actions, like helping a family move or buying them furniture. She’s also been collecting money, which led to a donation of equipment in Ukraine.

‘Depressed’ watching the news

Zytynsky is one of many in Montreal’s Ukrainian community still in disbelief about the now year-long war.

Olga Zubenko, who was born in nearby Poland but still has family in Ukraine, says it’s still difficult watching the news sometimes.

“Because it makes me very depressed,” she explained.

“Very sad that one nation can take over in 2022 like this, overnight. It’s like a movie. It’s like you’re watching a movie. But you know that people are dying, starving, no heat.”

Zubenko says the fight shown by the Ukrainian soldiers has made her extremely proud of her homeland.

“I can honestly say I am very, very proud of our people that I never thought they would be so resilient for a whole year,” she said. “And I pray to God every day that this atrocity would be finished.

“Sooner or later this war is going to end. It’s not going to drag on.”

‘It seemed impossible’

Meaghan Buckley, whose maternal grandparents both came from Ukraine, still feels frustration at watching the conflict unfold from afar.

“It’s very hard to watch it, to know so much and to not really be able to do anything,” she said.

Though Buckley was aware of the geo-political situation of the region that eventually led to the invasion, she says the war was still a shock.

“It seemed impossible that it was happening,” she recounted. “I mean, I know it’s not because you could have predicted. There were lots of historical things that you could have seen it coming. But it just seems so impossible that this war is going on.

“And it’s not only Ukraine. It’s many, many conflicts all over the world. So much injustice.”

‘We are not powerless’

“There is a guilt that you’re not there helping, saving lives there, which is which has been very difficult to deal with for many Ukrainians,” says Arsenii Pivtorak, a volunteer at the Ukrainian Catholic church of St-Michel. “But with time, you realize that we are not powerful, but we are not powerless either, so we can do some difference and we can help even from here.”

One of the hubs for donations that went out to Ukraine has been at the church where volunteers still gather to help out in the effort.

Tons of pallets of supplies have been shipped to Ukraine from the church and even more goods donated for those who fled to the city. 

To mark the anniversary, s candlelight vigil march is planned for Friday in downtown Montreal.

“February has never ended, it’s as if the 24th has continued for a whole year,” said Pivtorak.

“And there have been a lot of things that have happened of good things, all the solidarity we saw from the Canadian the Quebec people. But at the same time, we must not forget that there are horrible things on large scale happening right now that we will only realize maybe years later.”