“I am going to Ukraine not to die, I am going to help, to protect."
Mykola Krutsyk has lived and worked in Limerick for 20 years, but he is now preparing to travel to Kyiv where his elderly father who is suffering from cancer lives.
Brave Krutsyk (53) and a group of his friends will take the ferry to France and drive through Germany and Poland, before crossing the boarder into Ukraine.
Explaining his decision to leave Krutsyk, said he is “going to Ukraine because Russia started this war and they are killing Ukrainian people, children, women, and I must help, I must be there to help my fellow Ukrainians”.
“Me and some friends will be going and we will be staying in Kyiv – this is very important as it is the capital city for Ukrainians.
“Some off my family, including my dad, are there in Kyiv city. My dad is too old, he is 76, he has cancer, he is very sick and he is living in the city centre in Kyiv, but he can’t walk.
“I have talked with him and he does not want to go from Kyiv, he wants to stay there, but it is not good.”
Krutsyk will be leaving behind his son Nicolay and wife Liliya, as her explained: “My wife and son must stay here because they can help as well from here. Just talking to me when I’m over there will be a help.”
He plans to bring medical supplies such as thermometers, bandages, ice-packs and surgical gloves as well as military helmets, vests, uniforms, shoes and boots.
“I am going to Ukraine not to die, I am going to help, to protect. If you go there thinking you are going to die you would not go, there would be no point.”
