[Huntingwhale]

Update on my wife's family's situation:

Spoiler!

We're obviously very happy she's back in Poland with me, along with her best friend and cousin. However just because they are here doesn't mean the horrors that come along with this war have ended. The friend's Mother already lives in Poland, so she is going to move in with her later today (Father still in Ukraine as he is of fighting age and cannot leave). Cousin will be staying with us for 7 weeks before we move to Canada.

My wife and her cousin are very worried about their parents. Their food supply has dwindled. Still no power, heat, internet and food supply. A couple days ago a very small food supply made it to the village. Yesterday some Russian "aid" arrived in the form of medication.

Today the cousin's friend called (from this same village) and said that there is a plan for Russian "aid" to bring food to their village. Along with that comes a TV camera crew to showcase how much these brave Russians are "helping" the Ukrainians AND a possible evacuation order. Except that evacuation order goes directly to Belgorod , on the Russian side. From what we understood, women and children have the choice to either stay or evacuate. But all males in the village MUST evacuate to Belgorod. With all that is happening with Putin recruiting "volunteers" , we have a legitimate worry that my FIL will be forced to fight for the Russian side. I am not sure of the logistics of how that will work, if it is feasible or not, and how the Russians go about making sure this happens. Apparently it's happened quite a bit in the Donbas region. Will try to confirm later if this is actually happening and obviously something we worry very much about.

I'm happy my wife is back and safe. But she is a complete mess about this. Having to leave her parents behind, she feels extremely guilty. For example she hates how she can do normal things like listen to music or drink wine, and her family is starving and sleep deprived. It's hard with how communication with them is very sporadic. How her home city of Kharkov is a pile of rubble. How she thinks and dreams of bombs throughout the day and night. It has been extremely hard on her. Trying my best to keep her spirits up but there is going to be an extremely challenging recovery process in all of this.

Still makes me so upset that last month they were living normal lives with the threat of war looming, yet truly believing it would not happen. Then it has shifted to their lives completely turned upside down and her cousin having to start a new life here in Poland by herself while we move to Canada. Breaks my heart to know this was forced upon her. My wife feels very guilty that she is 'abandoning' her.

I'll be looking into the new program that IRCC is supposed to be releasing in the next week or 2 that supposedly makes it easier for Ukrainians to come to Canada. But knowing how my dealings with IRCC have gone on over the past few years, I am not holding hope that it will be anything other than IRCC doing what it does best and picking and choosing a select few lucky ones who meet an extremely high criteria for admission. I believe the cousin's best chance at starting a new life will be here in Poland due to the location and similarities in language and culture. We will be doing what we can now to help her cousin integrate into Poland with the social programs they have ongoing. Helping her get set up with bank accounts, the city layout, job searches, accommodation searches, etc.

So while I am happy my wife and her companions are safe, this war still brings many challenges for them long after they have made it to safety. Obligatory #### Putin and his cronies, and praying this war ends as soon as possible.