“What would my life be like if I stayed here?” Within weeks, Vardon Davdian, a Canadian-Ukrainian, returned to Europe and spent fourteen years in Canada defending his native country.
Read more: Live | Three weeks of war in Ukraine
On Wednesday morning, a handful of people arrive with him to say goodbye to Winnipeg Airport in central Canada. With him, 13 oversized bags, all exploding and covered with yellow and blue ribbons, colors of Ukraine.
It was clear to him that he had not stopped standing still when the bombs fell on his country where his entire family still lives.
“What Russia is doing is unbelievable and what other countries are doing is unbelievable. The whole situation is unbelievable,” the 37-year-old told AFP, wearing a khaki shirt on his back and a cross around his neck.
Born in Armenia, he spent most of his youth in Ukraine before graduating and moving to Canada in 2008. He quit his job in the oil sector a few days after the Russian army invaded Ukraine on February 24.
“I can see all this without interruption, but what does it get me? What is the meaning of my life?” Varadhan says his sister, daughter-in-law, cousins, cousins and friends confessed to feeling guilty about being safe on Canadian soil while living in war in a country.
“I never fought, but when I see what’s happening in the news, I do not hesitate,” says one who initially believed that the dream of the Russian invasion was fake news. Varadhan, who speaks Ukrainian and Russian, says he still has trouble directing.
The first stop of his long journey to Europe was for him, who had not returned for about three years due to the Govt epidemic, to Warsaw, Poland. From there he intends to cross the border and reach Ukraine.
Among his luggage are kilograms of goods collected in recent days by members of the Ukrainian community in his region: medical equipment, drones, batteries and even baby supplies.
Vardan carries with him a bandana of Ukrainian colors, which was recently presented to him by his friend Lyudmila Artemzuk. “She promised me she would bring it back to her,” Varden insists, explaining that he feels “angry” but not scared.
At the time of farewell, the dark environment. In particular, the 37-year-old Ukrainian, who has lived in Canada for many years, learned of the death of his childhood friend in the Russian bombings. The civilians have paid a heavy price since the war began.
“I think Varadhan is brave, he needs to do what he can, people need help,” she said with slinky, pale, tired eyes marked with tears.
The largest Ukrainian diaspora in Canada (1.4 million people, the second largest in the world) is located in the center of the country and in the West, mobilized to send goods and remittances from the first day of the Russian invasion. .
It was within this community that Vardan chose to spend his last night in Canada at the home of one of his compatriots.
“He’s my hero,” his friend Marina Priestiko told AFP as he carefully packed his bags for Ukraine. The 37-year-old woman with the blonde bread continues: “It’s easy to be in a quiet and peaceful place, but he goes to war”.
Varadhan does not see himself as a hero. He sees his departure several weeks later as a “liberation” and, several weeks later, a nation that felt ineffective was bombed.
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