N.L. man witnesses Kyiv airstrikes, as his days in Ukraine wind down

Lorne Goudie was looking forward to his first good night of sleep in weeks on Sunday night, until explosions rocked the Ukrainian capital in the early hours of Monday morning.

The former Grand Falls-Windsor teacher, Pentecostal pastor and army reservist was drawn to Ukraine in March, feeling a strong pull to help out with humanitarian work when the war broke out.

Goudie had just returned to Kyiv on Sunday, after delivering food and medicine in the Ukrainian cities of Donetsk and Kharkiv, where fighting is much more frequent.

"I wake up and there's bombs going off here in the city," Goudie said. "We went out to the kitchen and looked out over the city. We're on the 18th floor, and you see these plumes of smoke rising up into the air."

Kyiv had been a relative safe haven since Russian soldiers retreated in April. That changed on Monday, as the capital city was one of several Ukrainian cities hit by airstrikes. Russian President Vladimir Putin called the attacks retribution for the bombing of a bridge connecting mainland Russia to the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea.

While the Russians claim they were targeting strategic infrastructure, civilians once again found themselves in the crosshairs. At least 11 people were killed, and at least 64 others were wounded in the attacks. 

Goudie said the latest bombings brought back terrible memories of the early days of the war in Kyiv, when civilians were routinely targeted.

"The bombs are hitting indiscriminately in areas that just don't make sense," Goudie said. "Hospitals, apartment buildings, shopping centres. It just don't make sense to me. And people are very fearful of the terror that's coming their way."

Close calls becoming common

While Monday's missiles were too close for comfort, it's not the closest Goudie has come to deadly strikes.

Late in the summer, Goudie took a break from his usual humanitarian work and spent five weeks embedded with a Ukrainian forces drone unit. He was responsible for packing up the drones as they landed — a risky task, since Russian forces had their own drones and were hunting for targets. 

"As soon as our drones are down, we have to pack up quickly and go, and of course we're not as fast as we'd like to be," Goudie said. "We've been bombed several times, running for the ditch. In one case in particular, running to a root cellar, and that was our safe haven."

Goudie, a teacher for 30 years, joined the military five years before his retirement. He later became a pastor, as well, and had just moved to Ontario when the war broke out.

He said he felt called to go to Ukraine and use the skills he'd built throughout each stage of his life to help those who needed it.

'Jonathan is influencing us'

Goudie was also motivated by his late son, Cpl. William Jonathan Goudie, an Afghanistan War veteran who died in a motorcycle crash in 2013 while on leave from Afghanistan. The father said he was moved by a story his son had told him about his time overseas.

"There would be children in the gutters, in the streets, and they'd be hungry and begging for food … and Jonathan would say he'd always give them something. He'd always have a bar or a bag of chips. And it really impacted me, that he would do that. My son."

Goudie now finds himself doing similar work, raising money to buy food and delivering it to people displaced from their homes. 

"I influenced Jonathan. My wife influenced Jonathan. And now Jonathan is influencing us," he said.

Goudie plans to head home in early November to see his family. He hasn't seen his wife, daughter or grandchildren in seven months. He plans to raise more money while he's home to continue the work he's been doing to help Ukrainians.

With mounting Russian aggression, and winter around the corner, Goudie said people will need more help in the weeks and months to come. He urges people in Canada to consider donating to charities on the ground, who are putting money to good use.

Despite the escalation in violence, Goudie said he remains confident in the ability of the Ukrainian people to defend their homeland.

"This nation was polarized [but] it's come together in such a way, I've never witnessed before. And you know, they're going to win the war."

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