Winnipegger working with Mennonite Central Committee evacuated from Ukraine

Four staff members working for theMennonite Central Committee and two children have been evacuated from Ukraine, and moved to an undisclosed location, the charitable organization says.

The MCC has worked in Ukraine for years, collaborating with local partners in response to fighting in eastern Ukrainesince 2014, when Russia annexed part of the region.

They've been monitoring the escalating situation, and last weekdecided to evacuate their North American staff after both the United States and Canada urged their citizens to leave Ukraine.

The workers one Winnipegger and three Americans have not returned home, and are temporarily staying in an undisclosed location.

They were evacuated from Zaporizhzhia, an industrial city in southeastern Ukraine about 300 kilometres from the Russia border.

The group of four adults and two children include one person from Winnipeg.

"The evacuations had to take place really quickly, which meant that, you know, the families needed to pack up quickly. They needed to, you know, leave without saying proper goodbyes to a lot of their community," said Laura Kalmar, director of marketing and communications for MCC Canada.

Kalmar said there are still MCC staff local to Ukraine who haven't been evacuated yet.

"We're carefully working with them to assess the situation and to consider next steps for themselves and their families to keep them safe," Kalmar said.

Some of MCC's relief efforts have been put on hold due to the current political situation. While they typically support displaced people by distributing emergency supplies and basic necessities like personal hygiene items, the shipments have been delayed.

"The ability for the country to to allow shipments to come in during the conflict there's too many unknowns. It's heartbreaking for us to know that we've had to delay that," Kalmar said.

Ruslan Zeleniuk owns the Swedish Ukrainian Export-Import storefront on Selkirk Avenue in Winnipeg, which, on top of selling goods, coordinates the shipment of care packages to Ukraine.

In the last few weeks, though, he has received a "zillion" phone calls from people asking if it's safe to send the parcels.

"In the back of their mind, [they're] thinking will this be received? Will this actually be sent to the enemy or to the people in need?" Zeleniuk said.

Items sent in the care packages sent through Zeleniuk's businessare similar to what MCCwould send.

"Ukraine is rich insoil and human resources...but inthe same time, it's a post-Soviet country with a not developed ... economy. So it's always been some shortage of the necessities," he said.

Zeleniuk is still doing his best to make sure that people in Ukraine are getting the items they need, and that money transfers are successfully deposited.

He has family in Ukraine and says that they are uncertainand scared, but not panicking or panic-buying food and necessities.

"It's eight years for Ukrainians [of] our families living in this situation. They've already done everything, they've already made theirmind [up] with the situation.But they are also concerned, so deeply scared inside, and they [are] actually counting on our support."