‘If I’m in a position to help, I’m going to help:’ Hamilton man rescues Ukrainian student from war
It was just over a year ago, in June 2022, that the Hamilton man first showed the Ukrainian student his cosy home, with the maple tree out front, on Chatham Street just east of Dundurn.
In the aftermath of war, and loss, 24-year-old Andrey Shatsky has come to see 59-year-old Richard (Rick) Wybou as a father figure.
In the house, Richard pointed and said: This is your room,'" says Shatsky. It was very nice."
The story of their intersecting lives goes back eight years, when Wybou started to take the teenager a world away under his wing.
Wybou's drive to help might seem over the top, but to him it's not complicated.
He speaks approvingly of random acts of kindness," and quotes Gandhi's exhortation to be the change you want to see in the world."
And what's the saying, that all it takes for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing?" Wybou says. I take that to heart. If I'm in a position to help, I'm going to help."
Wybou works in IT for a bank, but his passion has long been politics and history.
He took special interest in Russian expansionism under Vladimir Putin, and implications for Ukraine. In 2014 he was chatting with Ukrainians on VK, a Facebook-style Russian social media platform.
One of them was teenage Shatsky, who lived in Kramatorsk, a city in eastern Ukraine. He knew almost no English, but communicated with Wybou using Google Translate.
In the spring of 2014, armed Russian separatists occupied Kramatorsk. In May, Shatsky's father, a municipal transit official and former deputy of the city council, was reportedly abducted.
Messaging with Wybou, Shatsky said he hoped his father would be released.
I knew his father was not coming back," says Wybou in a recent interview with The Spectator. But it's heartless to tell this 15-year-old kid. I tried to mentor him and gently take him down that road, because he's going to need emotional support and guidance."
Shatsky never saw his father again.
Meanwhile, he was traumatized further by shelling in and around the city through 2015.
In his interview with The Spec, Shatsky says he witnessed a window in his school shatter from compression waves of an explosion.
I saw this, it exploded in front of me. When I went outside, I saw corpses. I didn't feel anything at the time, but later I did; I think it was shock, yes. I talked to Richard right away. I texted him there was a terrorist shelling and I'm scared as hell. It was the closest to death I've felt."
Wybou eventually began sending parcels with clothes and Canadian souvenirs, including a flag and maple syrup of course," says Shatsky.
Later, he sent money for a laptop and paid for tutors to help Shatsky write university entrance exams.
I wanted Andrey to get a real education at a good university, and I also wanted to get him away from the Russian border," says Wybou, who believed an invasion was inevitable: The insurgency was just the opening ruse."
Wybou's father served in the Canadian military with Norad (North American Aerospace Defense Command). Growing up, his family moved place to place, including Quebec, North Bay, Montana, and near the base located inside Cheyenne Mountain, Colorado.
Wybou never married and has no kids, even though he says he is a commitment guy" who had long-term relationships lasting 13 and 14 years.
He remembers years ago, pausing in Ikea, staring at kids' bedroom furniture, and thinking: I missed out on that.
He volunteered six years with Big Brothers, and has devoted time and money to helping others: a homeless man and his dog; a woman scammed by a building contractor.
Even given his penchant for supporting others, his parents could not understand why he was investing in this stranger in Ukraine - tens of thousands of dollars in the end, Wybou estimates, some of which Shatsky has repaid.
Wybou's mother asked: why not support your nieces and nephews instead?
And I said, Andrey did not ask me for it, and I knew he had no other choice," Wybou says. There were no options for him."
At one point, even Shatsky began questioning Wybou's interest in his well-being. When Shatsky was 17, there was a stretch of a few months when he stopped talking and messaging with Wybou.
People had been giving Andrey a hard time about it," says Wybou. A Canadian adult male spending time with a teenage boy in Ukraine; what is this guy's motive?'"
But Wybou says one day he floated Shatsky a message wishing him well, and Andrey replied that he felt like he had made a mistake cutting him off. They resumed communicating.
I had not realized it at the beginning," says Shatsky, but I bonded with Richard like he is my father. He helped me and supported me."
In 2020 he was accepted at Taras Shevchenko University in Kyiv. Wybou sent money for tuition.
Richard believed in me and helped boost my self-esteem," says Shatsky. I wanted to go to the best and most prestigious university in Ukraine."
In September 2020 he sent a selfie to Wybou, standing on campus: Look I did this," he texted. Thank you."
By January 2022, Wybou and Shatsky were talking about attempting a move to Canada.
Wybou badgered him to stock up on water and canned goods, and keep a backpack ready so he could take cover at a moment's notice.
I was a Boy Scout; always prepared, right?" says Wybou. But people were telling Andrey: Rick is just a worry wart, (an invasion) won't happen.' They weren't assessing it from Putin's perspective. Big mistake."
On Feb. 24, 2022, Putin announced a special military operation" had begun in Ukraine.
Shatsky translated Putin's speech in real time on the phone with Wybou.
In the next few minutes I heard a sound like a jet, but we figured out later it was a rocket," says Shatsky.
Each night for two weeks, Wybou monitored a channel on the social media app Telegram, tracking air raid sirens during overnight hours, Kyiv time, so he could warn Shatsky.
Wybou says he felt like a worried parent.
People at work were saying it's a tough situation, but there's nothing you can really do, you might as well accept it. And I'm like: No, I'm not going to accept it. I'm going to find a way. (19th-century German poet) Goethe said the universe conspires to help, when you pick a direction and move. If you stand still nothing will happen."
Men ages 18 to 60 were prohibited from leaving Ukraine, if healthy enough to fight. Shatsky has a heart condition. He reported to an enlistment station and after a physical was classified ineligible to serve.
Wybou believed escaping to Romania was their best hope, and used Google Earth to find a hotel near the border. He phoned the hotel and said he was trying to help a Ukrainian student get out.
One contact led to another. A woman was so inspired by his story that she offered to help. In March 2022, she entered Ukraine, helped Shatsky organize his documents, and drove him into Romania.
The next stop was Canada, but first Shatsky convinced his mother and grandmother to board a train in Kramatorsk. They started on a journey for Romania on April 3; five days later a Russian missile attack on the Kramatorsk railway station killed 60 people.
The pair remain in Romania, where his mother is a hair dresser.
As for his father's abduction, over the course of several years Shatsky researched the case, obtaining information from Ukrainian police.
He shows a Spectator reporter copies of documents that he says prove police concluded his father was executed for having remained loyal to the Ukrainian government against the Russian insurgency.
There is no doubt," says Shatsky. It is transparent to me."
In June 2022, toting nothing but a backpack, Shatsky arrived at Pearson Airport, alone, to greet Wybou.
I was 15 and 165 centimetres tall when I first met Richard (online) and now I am 197 centimetres," says Shatsky. When I saw Richard I said: You really exist! I just wanted to see him, after these eight years of helping me emotionally and financially."
Wybou says Shatsky is intelligent, motivated and responsible, but there are adjustments after all these years of living with no one but his dog.
Some mornings it's the dirty dishes left out from Andrey's late-night snack.
Andrey needs to feel this is home, and feel secure and loved, and where he can grow and make his own decisions ... Having him in my life has been good for me, too. It's helping me to grow, too."
Shatsky landed a job at McDonald's in Ancaster, where he works 30 hours a week. His English has come a long way.
He helps pay for groceries, and also sends money to a relative in Ukraine who is fighting in the war, lately to help him buy night-vision goggles.
Each morning, Shatsky attends classes remotely toward completing his bachelor's degree from the university in Kyiv. His plan is to eventually apply to McMaster to continue his education.
He speaks four languages. Wybou thinks Shatsky might one day be a great fit working for Canada's intelligence agency, CSIS, or border services.
Shatsky has a three-year permit to live and work under the Canada-Ukraine Authorized Emergency Travel program, after which he could apply for permanent residency, or return to Ukraine.
I really want to stay in Canada," he says.
Wybou hopes to make official what is in his heart: he wants to adopt him.
I've had a parental role with Andrey for many years," he says. It feels like the natural thing to do. It would be good for him, to feel like he's not alone."
It is the logical continuation of our relationship, I'm confident in this," says Shatsky, adding that his mother is supportive, because she trusts Wybou, who she has spoken with many times.
Last summer, Wybou took Shatsky to meet family members in P.E.I. and Ottawa, where they toured Parliament Hill.
More recently, they went shopping for a bed, to replace the old futon in Shatsky's room.
Looking at the furniture in Ikea, it took Wybou back.
He still wasn't in the market for a child's bed.
It did feel like he was picking one for his son, though, this young man already versed in life and death, as well as the power of one person to tilt the universe a little bit at a time.
Jon Wells is a feature writer at The Spectator. jwells@thespec.com