Search for Ukrainian refugee missing two months set for Friday

The local Ukrainian community is organizing a search Friday for a 30-year-old Ukrainian man who hasn’t been seen in more than two months.

The family of Anatolii Ishchenko, who came to Winnipeg after his country was invaded by Russia, is hoping for a miracle.

Ishchenko was last seen in the 2300 block of Pembina Highway after he left the Victoria Hospital on Jan. 22, at about 11:30 a.m.

“Let’s pray for a miracle,” said Irina Mashevsky, his aunt, during a telephone interview from her home in California on Monday. “My sister (his mother) is worried. She is in Ukraine.

“I don’t know what happened. When I spoke to him on the phone he was looking to the future. He was taking courses. He was looking to better his life.”

Ishchenko is one of the more than 30,000 Ukrainians who have come to Manitoba. He arrived in 2022 or 2023.

Almost 300,000 Ukrainians flew to Canada after the Canadian government created an emergency travel program for them following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022.

Winnipeg police announced on March 16 that Ishchenko was missing and they were concerned for his well-being.

He is described as 6-1 in height, with a thin build, and brown hair and eyes.

He was last seen wearing a long black jacket and black boots.

Oksana Burchak, of Girls from Ukrainian Moms in Winnipeg, who is organizing the search, said Ishchenko went missing on the coldest day of the year.

Environment and Climate Change Canada stats show the temperature that day was about -30 C and, with the wind chill, it felt like -48 .

“He wasn’t wearing a hat, he wasn’t wearing gloves. All he had on was a coat and boots,” Burchak said.

“He was in distress. He was having a panic attack. He called an ambulance and they came and took him to the hospital at 10:23 (a.m.), but by 11:30 he was discharged. His phone was active at 2:30 p.m., but that’s it.”

Burchak said he hasn’t returned to his residence because “all of his documents are at home. His passport. He couldn’t go anywhere without that.”

She said no one was looking for Ishchenko until two weeks ago.

“Why the search is taking place now is because his landlord thought he was in hospital. When his family in Ukraine and the U.S. called, they said he was in hospital, don’t worry. But then a letter came from the hospital and he started realizing something was wrong.”

Burchak said she is realistic about their chances of finding Ishchenko alive.

“Unfortunately, there is not much chance we can find him alive,” she said. “What we want to do is find him and then we send his remains to Ukraine.”

Burchak said she met Ishchenko once when he went to her home with his girlfriend, whom he had met here.

“He was very intelligent, nice. He was shy. He was very well behaved,” she said.

“But he and his girlfriend broke up in July last year. He worked at MCI (Motor Coach Industries) and there was a layoff in January.”

Burchak said it is hard for many of the Ukrainians who left the country during wartime to adapt to Canadian life.

“They have a lot of stress here,” she said. “They work overtime. They learn English. They try to fit into the community as best as they can.”

Mashevsky said she spoke to her nephew almost every week after he arrived in Winnipeg, but the calls became less often in recent months.

She said she spoke to him early in the new year, but shortly after that the calls stopped.

“He was OK when I talked to him,” Mashevsky said. “He was hoping to come to the United States some day, but with his legal status he couldn’t leave the country to come visit.”

The search party, which is still looking for more volunteers, starts at St. Vital Park on Friday at 11 a.m.

kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca