“I feel very bad, I don’t understand this war,” explains Ivanka Martyniuk, a Ukrainian resident of Ibiza for 11 years, nervously on the phone.
Her uneasiness is more than understandable: in Ukraine, very close to Ivano-Frankivsk, whose airport was attacked with Russian missiles this morning, lives most of her family: her 16-year-old daughter, her mother, siblings and nephews and nieces.
“I have been communicating with them all day by Whatsapp and Messenger and I hope that communication is maintained, but I don’t know what is going to happen”, Ivanka explains to Diario de Ibiza. For the moment, her whole family is fine, locked up at home and trying to keep calm. She has been told that the shortage of basic necessities is likely to start soon, because the terror and uncertainty that has gripped Ukrainians after the Russian invasion has caused thousands of citizens to go out to supermarkets and pharmacies to buy everything they can.
Russian and Ukrainian citizens in an archive image of the Fira de Pobles held in Ibiza. J.A. Riera
Ivanka, who recently spoke with her brother who lives in Ukraine, says that he has explained to her that he has not been able to withdraw money from the bank. The ATMs are not working and the branches are closed.
“I am very afraid,” he adds, “we are not to blame for anything and the only hope we have left at this moment is to pray to God to protect us . We have no other choice”.
This Ukrainian citizen believes that the only thing that drives Russian President Vladimir Putin is “colonizing territories”. He does what he wants without anyone stopping him, and this means that we don’t know what will happen.
For Elina Rastamo, a Russian citizen and resident in Ibiza for 16 years, this situation is generated by “the desire for provocation by someone who has interests in the area. And we all know who they are“. “Russia, as a country, has no interest in bombing a country that owes it money,” says Elina, whose family is half Russian and half Ukrainian.
Although her relatives in Ukraine are distant and she has no contact with them, Elina has spoken to some friends living in the country. “I have a friend, a Russian with a Ukrainian passport, who has an embroidery company and since the conflict started her business has plummeted,” she says. “I don’t know if there is a lack of basic products, but I do know that there are many businesses that are being affected and that are the only livelihood of their owners,” she adds before criticizing that, “in the end, those affected are always the same.”
Elina does not know how or when this situation will end or what the consequences of a war between Ukraine and Russia might be, but she does believe that “if there was the will, it could be avoided”.
For her part, Russian music teacher Elena Prokhorova, who has lived on the island for 16 years and is also the president of the Slavic Roots Association, which brings together Russian, Ukrainian (mostly), Polish, Hungarian, Moldavian and Serbian citizens, among others, explains that in the association “we have no conflict. We are all united by culture, over and above politics”.
Elena Prokhorova, director of several choirs. J.A. Riera
Prokhorova also has family in Ukraine, a country where she traveled a lot as a child to visit her grandmother and where she has always felt “at home”. For the teacher, the only thing this conflict achieves is “to generate pain, because neither Russians nor Ukrainians want this war,” she explains, while expressing her concern for her relatives in Kiev.
Maryana Lukynyuk has been on the island for almost 20 years. From Ukraine, her family has been informing her about the situation all morning. They also live in Ivano-Frankivsk. “They are trying to stay calm, but it is difficult”, Maryana told Diario de Ibiza. “The Government informs the population of what is happening and gives instructions on what to do to prevent fear from growing”, she adds.
Maryana Lukynyuk, Ukrainian citizen living in Ibiza. Maryana Lukynyuk
For the full article, please visit Diario de Ibiza website here.