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A Ukrainian couple who live in Limerick have told how they are living in constant fear their families who are still in war-torn Ukraine will be slaughtered in Russia’s invasion of the country.
Andrej Mitigan, his wife Alisa and their two year old daughter Mia, settled in Limerick a year and a half ago when he began working for a local construction company as a civil engineeer.
Mr Mitigan (35), said he is prepared to go back to Ukraine to help defend it and protect his parents and brother who have told him they have taken up arms, and who are sleeping in basements to try to avoid Russian missile strikes.
“I’m from Kyiv, my family are there, my father mother, brother, and all of them are pushed to take the weapons to protect themselves, their lives. We don’t want a war, Ukrainians love peace and democracy but the Russians are trying to destroy our country; everyday they are attacking us, killing us,” said Mr Mitigan.
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“I have parents, a brother, friends, my grandma and grandpa, they [sleep ]in basements, and they are afraid because missiles have attacked [our city].”
Becoming emotional, Mr Mitigan said: “My daughter is two years old, and yesterday she said to me, ‘Father, let’s draw a rocket’, and I cried.”
His family in Ukraine have already seen the worst of the war, “they see how people die, and they hear rockets”.
“I want to protect them, and if the situation worsens I’m going to go back to Ukraine to protect them. I’m a civil engineer, I’m not a soldier, but I will go back and fight,” he said.
“I support our president because Russia’s rockets are not only killing our soldiers, they are hitting our houses, and even our kindergartens have been attacked; they are killing civilians not only soldiers.”
Economic sanctions imposed on Russia are “not enough”, but he believes Ukraine can defend itself without the need for foreign troops in the country - but only as long as Western powers continue to supply Ukraine with military supports.
His message to those who can support Ukraine’s defence against Russia is a simple one: “Help us with weapons, because we are the last world between Russia and Europe, and if you look at the history of war, Hitler started with one country and then another, so if you [don’t]want to be the next one, [help us] do what we are doing right now.”
He said Russian president Vladimir Putin is too much of a coward to start a nuclear war. “Putin, he lives in a bunker, and he looks like a very strong guy but he is not, he is afraid and he is scared for his own life.”
Alisa Mitigan says she is worried for her parents , who live close to Kyiv.
“Of course I am worried for them, I don’t know if I will see them in the future, I don’t know if I will see them alive again, they don’t know what will happen,” said Ms Mitigan.
Although safe in Limerick, she grieves the terror that has struck at the heart of her family: “I cry everyday, I ring them and ask them are they ok, all our thoughts are about Ukraine now.”
She said her family supports the orders of Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy that all males aged 18 to 60 must stay and defend their country.
“Our fathers are told they must stay in the Ukraine, and our mothers have told us they we will support[their husbands. A lot of our friends with small kids are trying to find a safe place for their kids, they are leaving Ukraine because the kids don’t need to see this or hear this, it’s very bad for their future and their development,” said Ms Mitigan. “A lot of our friends are still in Kyiv and said they will stay, and we don’t know what to do.”