Escaping Ukraine during Putin’s “Special Military Operation”. With Alona Sinchuk

Alona will recount how she escaped Ukraine two weeks after Russia invaded her country. She fled with her two teenage boys from Dnipro to Kyiv where she had to make several arduous trips by train to Poland to arrange for visas under the Canada-Ukraine authorization for emergency travel (CUAET) program which is one of the many special measures the Government of Canada has introduced to support the people of Ukraine. It offers Ukrainians and their family members free, extended temporary status and allows them to work, study, and stay in Canada until it is safe for them to return home. Once authorization was obtained, she and her sons were bused to France where arrangements were made for her family to come and settle in Lethbridge with the help of Lethbridge’s Project Sunflower Aid Society.

Speaker:   Alona Sinchuk       

Moderator: Mark Goettel

Alona was born in Vinnytsia Ukraine and lived in several cities before settling in Dnipro. She has two teenage boys, Stepan, 14, and Arsenii, 12.    She obtained a degree in Business Administration from the West Ukrainian National University in Ternopil and was the Department Director of an Eye Clinic in Dnipro prior to having to leave the country due to the war. She arrived in Lethbridge 3 months ago and is currently employed at Visual Effects - Lethbridge, Partners of FYidoctors