With tears streaming down her face, Ukrainian mom-of-one Mila Martsun says she has been living in fear for her family’s safety in Ukraine as Russia increases attacks on her homeland.
That fear has been amplified as her 46-year-old brother, who has previous police training, recently joined the resistance and is now fighting on the frontlines against the Russian invasion.
“We mostly communicate through Messenger, but every time that Messenger pings, my heart drops because I don’t know what kind of message it is,” Martsun said in an interview with the Cayman Compass.
She recounted a recent conversation with her brother which left her sad.
“There was also this moment when he was heading east where he had to tell me, ‘I made a living will’… it actually makes me almost cry when I talk about it,” she said.
He told her who he had left the will with, she said.
“He said, ‘I want you to be aware of it because I want my daughter to have whatever assets I have.’ When I saw this message, it just broke me completely because this is the kind of thing that people have to think about”.
On the frontlines
Although she is thousands of miles away from the war zone, Martsun, with the support of Austrian honorary consul Martin Richter, has embarked on a mission to raise funds for clothing for first responders on the Ukraine frontlines ahead of the brutal winter months.
On Monday, the BBC reported that “power and water supplies across the country have been badly hit after Russia launched more than 50 missiles targeting critical facilities”.
With Russian forces bombing electricity plants, Matsun said, now more than ever, warm clothing will be needed.
“Our initiative and our intent here is to help the first responders to be better equipped in the cold weather to respond to all of these disasters that unfortunately are occurring daily in Ukraine. It is incredibly tragic, but we continue to need the support… every penny counts. I’m very passionate because I know that everything that we raise will go directly to the cause,” Matsun said.
She commenced her fundraising efforts at Foster’s in Camana Bay on Friday.
Giving back in her own way
Dressed in her traditional Ukrainian Vyshyvanka shirt, Martsun and her husband, David Borrero, appealed for funds outside the supermarket over the weekend.
She said she would like to ensure that first responders are taken care of because they are the ones rushing in to help people when they are attacked or when their homes are bombed.
“Russia ramped up the bombings throughout the entire Ukraine trying to make Ukraine submit and create another wave of refugees towards Europe, and in that manner, they are trying to have pressure applied to start the negotiations because they’re not doing very well on the front,” she said.
She said Richter kickstarted the idea to get winter coats for the first responders, with the intent to purchase the clothing directly from suppliers overseas.
“We have an established contact in Poland. Volunteers that are working there will ship the clothing, once we get them to Poland, directly to the officials in Ukraine, who will be able to distribute it through their channels directly to the first responders,” she explained.
So far, she said, the effort has raised US$4,250, but Martsun said they are aiming for a target of US$12,000 which will cover 50 coats.
Richter, who joined Martsun to raise funds at Foster’s, said he was touched by the effort put into the campaign to assist first responders on the ground in Ukraine.
“Children put candies together in little envelopes in blue and in yellow [folded in hearts], one painted a painting for donations to [help with] this,” he said. “I’m really astonished to know how much it means to them and for them.
“Obviously, I am somehow privileged really to do a fundraiser like this…. [it is the best] decorated, best motivated… these are so unbelievable,” he said.
On her table at Foster’s, Martsun displayed paintings of Ukraine flags, blue and yellow balloons, and images of the war on her donation boxes – all aimed at drawing attention to the plight in her country.
Her husband told the Compass it has been hard for him to watch his wife suffer as she prays for her family.
He too is worried about the impact the war will have on his extended family in Ukraine and those helping them.
He stressed the importance of continuing to promote awareness about the war.
“The war in Ukraine hasn’t stopped, and I think that once you get accustomed to something not going away, you kind of put it in the back of your mind and you forget,” Borrero said.
“Ukraine is going through incredibly tough times and now, on top of that, winter is coming and they’re going to have to deal with winter. Russia is trying to take advantage of that and attack electric plants in Ukraine, attack the civilians, so that they don’t have power, they don’t have heating, so they’re going to have a very tough time.”
Borrero said Cayman is a very special place and “we are very lucky we don’t have to deal with war”.
“I think we need to be grateful [for] what we have. Christmas is coming, we’re going to spend time with our families. Ukrainians are not going to have a chance to do that, so just think about how you can help and keep that in mind during Christmas time,” he said.
Praying for her brother, for her country
Martsun said the war raging in her country has been difficult for her, and it has been traumatising to see what was unfolding in her homeland where the majority of her family reside.
“It’s incredibly hard. When war had just started, I was in a complete state of shock, to the point where I couldn’t do my work,” the tax director at KPMG said.
When Martsun was last back in Ukraine, in 2016, she never envisioned that her country would be in conflict and she would not be able to see her family.
She said her company and co-workers have been supportive throughout the ordeal.
However, she admitted her brother joining the Ukraine Armed Forces “did not help” her anxiety, “but I understood why he needed to do that”.
“Every man in Ukraine who picked up their arms and went to the front, they’re protecting their mothers, their children, their sisters. It’s not a matter of being brave, they have no choice. They have absolutely no choice because the intent of this war is genocidal. If Ukrainians stop fighting, there will be no Ukraine, there will be no Ukrainians,” she said.
Martsun said she worries daily about her brother, who was recently promoted to a major.
“The men that go to war, they have to… face the fact that they might not see their children again. They might not see their mothers. They might not see their daughters,” she said.
Anyone who would like to assist, can contact Mila Martsun on 925-9838 or Martin Richter on 916-6688.
Martsun has also started a GoFundMe page called Caymankind for Ukraine to raise funds for the effort.
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