Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - March 8, 2022, Winnipeg, Manitoba ● WINNIPEGFREEPRESS.COMA4 TUESDAY, MARCH 8, 2022 C M Y K PAGE A4 AS the Ukrainian community watch- es its embattled homeland face down invading Russian forces, a Winnipeg tattoo artist is making a mark raising money for a cause that’s close to home. Heather Mellor, who operates out of Ink Noir — a downtown boutique shop — is offering Ukrainian-themed tattoos to support an important cause. “The response for it has been unreal,” Mellor said. Over three days, the 24-year-old has earned more than $7,000 and is donat- ing it all to the Ukraine Humanitarian Crisis Appeal. The federal government is matching donations to the Canadian Red Cross fund until March 18. Despite living more than 8,000 kilo- metres away from the besieged Euro- pean nation, Mellor was determined to make a difference. “I thought it was the perfect thing to use my business for and get people who maybe wouldn’t have donated on their own to want to support the cause,” she said. Mellor grew up in a Ukrainian house- hold. She took Ukrainian dance lessons for 12 years and her grandparents were born in Ukraine. “I’ve always been surrounded by it,” she said. “It’s a beautiful culture.” Mellor said she felt helpless when the invasion began, though she’s heard sto- ries of war before from her father, who served in the Canadian Armed Forces. “Thinking about the atrocities that people are facing right now makes me emotional,” she said. “It’s hard to think about because in North America we would never imagine something like that happening here.” Mellor, who has been tattooing for six years and normally specializes in black and white floral art, said the initiative has challenged her artistically and physically. The designs, which took over 20 hours to create, emphasize the art of cross-stitching — an ode to her Baba, who died before Mellor was born — and several other traditional details, includ- ing a woman wearing a vinok (tradition- al Ukrainian wreath) in one piece and sunflowers, poppies, and cornflowers in others. She said she’s received over 200 emails about her Ukrainian-themed art since last week and has been working 11-hour days to fit in as many clients as possible. Mellor expects to have tat- tooed nearly 50 people by the March 18 donation deadline, twice the number of clients she typically serves in a month. Mellor has also released three digital prints for sale on her website as another way to support the cause and has raised an additional $2,800 since Sunday eve- ning. She plans to continue donating proceeds from her digital prints as she resumes her regular work. Though her efforts leave her without income, Mellor said she couldn’t imag- ine doing anything else. “Being able to do this every day makes me so happy and seeing the people’s responses who get tattooed, they’re so grateful. “Looking at that tattoo for the rest of your life will remind you of such a beau- tiful thing you did.” fpcity@freepress.mb.ca Tattoo artist moves needle in support of Ukraine JOSHUA FREY-SAM Heather Mellor, of Ink Noir, is doing flash tattooing to raise money for efforts in Ukraine. Some of her handiwork is seen above. MIKE DEAL / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FOLKLORAMA’S long-running Rus- sian pavilion has cancelled its partici- pation in the upcoming 2022 multicul- tural festival, in protest of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Sofia Barklon, pavilion co-ordina- tor, said the local board’s decision was unanimous. “It is not the time for dancing and fun now,” said Barklon, who grew up in the Soviet Union in what is now Russia, later moving to Latvia, before she emi- grated nearly 30 years ago. “Our community opposes the mili- tary action in Russia against Ukraine.” The pavilion’s board — which in- cludes members with origins outside Russia, including Georgia, Kazakhstan and Ukraine — has decided to refocus its efforts toward gathering humanitar- ian aid, Barklon said. “We will help Ukrainian people with every means available to us,” she said Monday. “We think now, our pavilion is better to spend our money on this stuff than on Folklorama.” The group dispatched its first pack- age of food, diapers and medical sup- plies March 1. Barklon has been the Russian pavil- ion co-ordinator for 20 years, with the group not missing a festival during her tenure. Folklorama was cancelled in 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic; the 2021 event was presented in an online format only. It’s important Russian communities abroad speak out against the war, Bark- lon said, acknowledging concerns those who have family in Russia may face re- percussions by doing so. “Canadian people have to know we’re against it, and for peace,” she said. Svitlana Maluzynsky — a Canadian of Ukrainian descent who has volunteered at both the Ukrainian and Russian Folk- lorama pavilions and has family and friends in Ukraine — commended the board’s decision. “I thought it was the right move. I don’t think it’s an easy decision, and I don’t think it’s fair that they’re put in that kind of a position, but I do think that it shows the Russian community in Manitoba is standing in solidarity with Ukrainians,” Maluzynsky said. “It feels like it’s necessary to take a large step like that and make space for Ukrainians at this time.” Folklorama director of communica- tions Tanya Williams said the organi- zation respects the decision and looks forward to the eventual return of the Russian pavilion. Folklorama, which bills itself as the largest and longest-running multicul- tural festival of its type in the world, has been active since 1970. The 2022 edition is scheduled for July 31-Aug. 13. fpcity@freepress.mb.ca Russia pavilion organizers bow out of Folklorama CODY SELLAR Not time for fun: Russia pavilion organizers WAR IN UKRAINE L VIV, Ukraine — The humanitarian crisis in Ukraine deepened Mon-day as Russian forces intensified their shelling and food, water, heat and medicine grew increasingly scarce, in what the country condemned as a medi- eval-style siege by Moscow to batter it into submission. A third round of talks between the two sides ended with a top Ukrainian official saying there had been minor, unspecified progress toward establish- ing safe corridors that would allow ci- vilians to escape the fighting. Russia’s chief negotiator said he expects those corridors to start operating today. But that remained to be seen, given the failure of previous attempts to lead civilians to safety amid the biggest ground war in Europe since the Second World War. Well into the second week of the in- vasion, with Russian troops making sig- nificant advances in southern Ukraine but stalled in some other regions, a top U.S. official said multiple countries were discussing whether to provide the warplanes that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has been plead- ing for. Russian President Vladimir Putin’s forces continued to pummel cities with rockets, and fierce fighting raged in places. In the face of the bombard- ments, Zelenskyy said Ukrainian forc- es were showing unprecedented cour- age. “The problem is that for one soldier of Ukraine, we have 10 Russian soldiers, and for one Ukrainian tank, we have 50 Russian tanks,” Zelenskyy told ABC News in an interview that aired Monday night. He noted that the gap in forces was diminishing and that even if Rus- sian forces “come into all our cities,” they will be met with an insurgency. In one of the most desperate cities, the encircled southern port of Mariupol, an estimated 200,000 people — nearly half the population of 430,000 — were hoping to flee, and Red Cross officials waited to hear when a corridor would be established. The city is short on water, food and power, and cellphone networks are down. Stores have been looted as resi- dents search for essential goods. Police moved through the city, advis- ing people to remain in shelters until they heard official messages broadcast over loudspeakers to evacuate. Hospitals in Mariupol are facing severe shortages of antibiotics and painkillers, and doctors performed some emergency procedures without them. The lack of phone service left anxious citizens approaching strangers to ask if they knew relatives living in other parts of the city and whether they were safe. In the capital, Kyiv, soldiers and vol- unteers have built hundreds of check- points to protect the city of nearly 4 million, often using sandbags, stacked tires and spiked cables. Some barri- cades looked significant, with heavy concrete slabs and sandbags piled more than two stories high, while others ap- peared more haphazard, with hundreds of books used to weigh down stacks of tires. “Every house, every street, every checkpoint, we will fight to the death if necessary,” said Mayor Vitali Klitsc- hko. In Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-larg- est city, with 1.4 million people, heavy shelling slammed into apartment build- ings. “I think it struck the fourth floor un- der us,” Dmitry Sedorenko said from his Kharkiv hospital bed. “Immediately, everything started burning and falling apart.” When the floor collapsed be- neath him, he crawled out through the third story, past the bodies of some of his neighbors. Klitschko reported that fierce battles continued in the Kyiv region, notably around Bucha, Hostomel, Vorzel and Irpin. In the Irpin area, which has been cut off from electricity, water and heat for three days, witnesses saw at least three tanks and said Russian soldiers were seizing houses and cars. A few miles away, in the small town of Horenka, where shelling reduced one area to ashes and shards of glass, rescuers and residents picked through the ruins as chickens pecked around them. “What are they doing?” rescue work- er Vasyl Oksak asked of the Russian at- tackers. “There were two little kids and two elderly people living here. Come in and see what they have done.” In the south, Russian forces also continued their offensive in Mykolaiv, opening fire on the Black Sea shipbuild- ing center of a half-million people, ac- cording to Ukraine’s military. Rescuers said they were putting out fires caused by rocket attacks in residential areas. At The Hague, Netherlands, Ukraine pleaded with the International Court of Justice to order a halt to Russia’s in- vasion, saying Moscow is committing widespread war crimes. Russia “is resorting to tactics remi- niscent of medieval siege warfare, en- circling cities, cutting off escape routes and pounding the civilian population with heavy ordnance,” said Jonathan Gimblett, a member of Ukraine’s legal team. Russia snubbed the court proceed- ings, leaving its seats in the Great Hall of Justice empty. Efforts to set up safe passage for civilians over the weekend fell apart amid continued Russian shelling. Be- fore Monday’s talks began, Russia an- nounced a new plan, saying civilians would be allowed to leave Kyiv, Mariu- pol, Kharkiv and Sumy. But many of the evacuation routes headed toward Russia or its ally Belar- us, which has served as a launch pad for the invasion. Ukraine instead proposed eight routes allowing civilians to travel to western regions of the country where there is no shelling. Later, Russia’s U.N. Ambassador, Vassily Nebenzia, told the U.N. Secu- rity Council that Russia would carry out a cease-fire Tuesday morning and appeared to suggest that humanitarian corridors leading away from Kyiv, Mar- iupol, Sumy and Chernigov could give people choice in where they want to go. The U.N. humanitarian chief, Under- secretary-General Martin Griffiths, ad- dressed the Security Council and urged safe passage for people to go “in the di- rection they choose.” Zelenskyy’s office would not com- ment on the Russian proposal, saying only that Moscow’s plans can be be- lieved only if a safe evacuation begins. The office said Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk planned to make a statement on the issue this morning. The battle for Mariupol is crucial be- cause its capture could allow Moscow to establish a land corridor to Crimea, which Russia seized from Ukraine in 2014. The fighting has sent energy prices surging worldwide and stocks plummet- ing, and threatens the food supply and livelihoods of people around the globe who rely on crops farmed in the fertile Black Sea region. — The Associated Press Humanitarian crisis intensifies YURAS KARMANAU Russia accused of ‘resorting to tactics reminiscent of medieval siege warfare ‘ BERNAT ARMANGUE / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Ukrainian civilians receive weapons training in the outskirts of Lviv, western Ukraine, Monday. A_04_Mar-08-22_FP_01.indd 4 2022-03-07 10:13 PM ;