There are now seven Ukrainian refugees living in Kenora.

They were brought over by the Kenora Supports Ukraine committee.

Lexie Plyka says ideally they would like to back to Ukraine, once the Russian invasion is over.

“Once the war is over, everyone would love to go back and see our family,” Plytka said in a recent interview.

“Even if I bring my brother here, I still a lot of friends and a lot a relatives who are left over there and I want to see them…to make sure they are okay.”

Lexie says one of the biggest issues they have right now is homesickness.

“Its like I’m still talking to my brother and he wants to send some stuff we haven’t been able to bring over.  I’m like, ‘I don’t want you to send this’.  I want to go home.  Like sometime I will be back.  Yeah, you still get a lot homesick.  That’s your home.”

Yuliia Fedorovych agrees that she does miss her homeland.

“I just want to be with my family.  I love my city.  I love my family.  Of course if my family can join me in Canada, I can stay here.”

Plyka and Yuliia are just two of the Ukrainian women in Kenora and are working at Boston Pizza and send some of their wages back home to family.

Lexie has joined her sister and mother in Kenora.

She is also going to school virtually at a Ukrainian university, because she is unable to get a student visa in Canada.

(From left to right: Lexie Plytka and Yuliia Fedorovych)