‘If things get worse I will have to go to war’ - Ukrainian leaves life in Portadown to support his country

A Ukrainian man who lived in Northern Ireland for more than 10 years has spoken of his difficult decision to return to his war-ravaged home country.

Roman Tymchyshyn (34) from the western city of Lviv moved to Portadown in Co Armagh with his parents in 2011.

After the Russian invasion three years ago, he had returned to rescue his elderly grandparents Yaraslova and Mykola in a black taxicab as well as helping many others.

In September, he made a permanent return to Lviv where he now volunteers to deliver supplies.

He told the Irish News about how multiple funerals are held in his city for every day for soldiers killed on the front line and how men hide during the day in fear they will be conscripted into the fighting.

With US President Donald Trump’s rhetoric about imposing a peace deal and European leaders scrambling for a seat at the negotiating table, he also said Ukranians had little faith any deal could protect them from future Russian aggression.

“My family wasn’t really feeling safe about me moving back. For me, I just wanted to do this and be in Ukraine to support my people as much as I can,” he said.

Feeling “quite safe” in Lviv, he said there was only occasional bombing compared to other parts of the country.

Morale on the ground, he said, was dropping rapidly with people “losing faith” in winning the war.

“Obviously we’re losing a lot of Ukrainian soldiers. I see the deaths, we have four to five funerals in my city alone coming from the front line every single day.

“That’s obviously touching many families all across the country.”

On the current efforts towards a peace deal, he said: “To be honest, simple ordinary people feel useless, pointless and miserable because even though we try to help as much as we can, we can’t impact the current situation.

“Other towns and cities get bombed every day. Everything we see on TV about Palestine, about how ruined those places are, we get the same footage from other parts of Ukraine.

“It’s awful, disastrous. After so many years you think you can live with it, but the scale of this destruction is just insane.

“It’s not normal for people to live in a situation like this for such a long time and not having any confidence this will end any time soon.”

He said suggestions that America would use Ukraine’s natural resources as payment for a peace deal as well as conceding territory to Russia was “unacceptable” for most Ukrainians.

“Many people put their lives against this decision because they wanted to protect their land, their family their home,” he said.

“And now we just have to accept that because other countries say so?”

He said the memory of Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014 showed there was no guarantee against future attacks.

“The conclusion that most people come to, is that no matter what agreements we have worldwide, they just mean nothing to dictators.

“They keep willingly crossing those red lines and Europe can’t do much about this. It’s really hard to accept.”

Roman said a typical day will involve meeting colleagues to plan the day’s deliveries, but this can be disrupted if alarms warn people to take cover in shelters.

“Most of those alarms, you don’t get hurt. But you just never know where it hits,” he said.

“The streets are really quiet at the moment. It feels like a lot of people left the country.

“There’s also a lot of men hiding in homes or at work. They try to travel really early or late because the police and military patrolling the streets, they can capture you.

“If you’re fit to go to the battlefield, they will force you to go to the military base and sign you up.

“You’ll go through the training camps for two or three months and that’s it, you’re on a battlefield.

“Not everyone is willing to fight, not everyone is capable of killing people. No matter your faith, physical or mental condition - if you’re fit you go, it’s not questionable.”

While busy as a volunteer, Roman accepts he could also be called up.

“If things get worse and my organisation decide I’m no longer needed, I will have to leave everything behind and go to war,” he said.

“That’s the most risky thing for my parents, so I’m not always telling them what I do here and what I observe, because for them it’s really emotionally difficult to take.”

He said corruption on the ground is another problem, with supplies not always reaching their intended destination or donated medical products being expired.

With road closures and curfews in place across the country, other restrictions include a ban on new year fireworks, as loud noises can distress those traumatised by the war.

“A lot of people arrived here with mental health problems which can lead to bad behaviour,” he said.

“So dealing with this is another challenge, because a lot of people have so many traumas because they lost someone or seen something.

“These are indirect impacts of the war that we often forget about.”

In 2023, the Irish News met with Roman’s grandmother Yaraslova and grandfather Mykola as they approached their 90th birthdays and adjusted to their new lives in Portadown.

“Yaraslova passed away last year. Mykola is alive, but he is ill with Parkinsons and now his dementia is progressing,” Roman said.

“So he requires much more attention from my mum and dad in terms of bathing, walking and dressing him.

“It’s also hard on his mental health. It was really challenging to relocate so far away from his home country, almost at the end of his life.”

While praising the Portadown community for their warm welcome, he adds: “He’s very confused sometimes about where he is, what’s happening and why other people speak another language.

“But my parents translate for him and they feel privileged about how supportive people are.”

While leaving Ukraine during the war is restricted for men, Roman said that he will stay on afterwards to help rebuild as well as visiting Northern Ireland as often as he can.

Hoping to start a family in the future, he adds: “It sounds like everything is gray and dark over here, but there’s still so many positive people.

“They try to organise parties and live their lives, especially teenagers. For them, it’s really bad because they can’t fully enjoy their life.

“It’s so limited with all these bombings. But we do what we can and enjoy our lives because we don’t know what the next day will bring.”