Russian expat in N.L. heartbroken, worried over military invasion of Ukraine
'We were always like brother nations,' says Adilya Dragan
As the conflict in Ukraine intensifies, Russian expat Adilya Dragan looks on with worry and fear from thousands of kilometres away, stunned by her home country's military invasion.
Dragan left Russia 11 years ago with her husband to pursue job opportunities in the United States before ultimately settling in St. John's, where she now runs a business and is raising a family.
"I'm heartbroken, to be honest. I was crying on and off the whole day yesterday," Dragan told CBC News on Friday.
"Can you imagine that you have to evacuate your family?"
Dragan said her grandfather is from Ukraine but lives in Russia, while her husband has relatives still living in the invaded country.
She said her relatives are safe for now, but are living scared.
"I don't know why Russia would do that.… We were always like brother nations," Dragan said.
"We were 100 per cent sure that this was just a show [of force], 100 per cent sure, everybody, Russians and Ukrainians."
While Dragan is living far from home, she said it doesn't feel like it. She said she has bonded with Ukrainian people and is standing with them.
"It doesn't really matter that I'm not there, because in my mind I am with them," she said. "I support Ukrainian people and I really hope this will end soon."
'We just hope and pray that the conflict just stops some how'
Mehmet Caman, a political science professor at Memorial University with a background in post-Cold War Russian policy behaviour, said Thursday's attack was expected by intelligence communities after Russia began to deploy troops along the Ukrainian border.
"Nobody knew, though, of the scale of the invasion," he said, adding that it's the biggest military invasion since the Second World War.
"I was still very surprised with this move because it is going to have some impacts on regional security, or on European security in particular. It is going to have impacts to NATO, to Russia and to the region," he said.
"I'm asking myself whether the West, including NATO, the European Union or generally speaking democratic countries in the world, whether they did enough to stop this major conflict."
Caman, who is from Turkey, is married to a woman from Kazakhstan who has relatives throughout Russia and Ukraine.
He said she's upset, worried and scared that something might happen to her relatives and other innocent people living in Ukraine.
"We are all worried, and we just hope and pray that the conflict just stops somehow," he said.
"But I don't think it is very likely at this point. As the situation escalates, yesterday and today, I don't think this conflict is going to be over in a short time."
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