This First Person article is the experience of Andriy Tovstiuk, a Ukrainian Canadian veteran of the Canadian Armed Forces living in Edmonton. For more information about CBC’s First Person stories, please see the FAQ.
In March 2023, I returned to Ukraine for the first time since Russia’s full-scale invasion began a year earlier. When I was there with Operation Unifier in 2019 and 2020, I wore the uniform of the Canadian Armed Forces and was there to help train Ukrainian soldiers.
This time, I was back as a professor, teaching strategic marketing to Ukrainian IT professionals in a master’s program. As a Ukrainian Canadian born and raised in Edmonton, I’ve always cherished trips back to the land of my ancestors.
But stepping off of the train once I arrived in the country, I realized nothing about this place would be the same.
The streets of Vasylkiv, where I once jogged through …