UKRAINIAN DESCENDANT FLIES FLAG AS HE TRIES TO REACH COUSINS NEAR LVIV

Mark Clairmont | MuskokaTODAY.com

GRAVENHURST — Russian bombing around Lviv is a new concern for Daniel Dutka.

Two of his cousins live near the western Ukrainian city now under siege.

But he’s not sure; and thinks they “may be on the move and may have fled to Poland and beyond” — like his parents once did.

He’s been trying to contact them since the invasion began.

And following the news hourly online through the New York Times and The Guardian in London.

Dutka’s parents fled the Ukraine to England, before moving to Canada where he was born and has lived in Gravenhurst almost 20 years.

We caught up with him for an interview yesterday, a day after he picked up Petunia, an American rescue dog from the OSPCA in Orillia.

“I’ve got the flags up on my house (on Bay Street) and on my car, hoping Gravenhurst residents and Muskoka residents will do their part to stand with Ukraine. And help with this struggle they’re going through.”

Dutka’s been trying to reach out to his cousins who live “in the area called Viv,” but because cell towers have been bombed it’s been difficult.

“So it’s hard to communicate.”

Meanwhile, he and his wife April Drane have been doing their small part here by donating with “monetary support” and “material support” to Ukrainian groups in Toronto gathering goods for refugees who will be coming to Canada — as his family once did.

Drane, a real estate agent, has also been getting humanitarian support through her Chestnut Park realty firm.

Dutka, a regional distribution manager for Cottage Life magazine, says his President Volodymyr Zelensky “is doing an incredible job.”

“It’s hard to believe someone who was a former comedian is now a major statesman and has really galvanized Ukrainians around him.”

And as for Vladimir Putin?

Dutka says he has the same message for the Russian president as Ukrainian sailors had for him this week: “Go f*** yourself!”

“I’m just hoping for peace and some resolution.”

MuskokaTODAY.com caught up with Danial Dutka yesterday to talk about Muskoka standing up to support Ukraine.

Daniel Dutka, with his new rescue dog Petunia, is “hoping for peace and some solution” to the war in his ancestral homeland. He’s been flying Ukrainian flags on his Bay Street home in Gravenhurst and on his car.

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