Olha Kulybanych looks up at Canmore’s iconic Three Sisters mountain range towering over the Alberta town and said while it’s stunning — her heart aches for another peak: Hoverla Mountain back home in Ukraine.
“We are grateful for Canada and for Bow Valley to have us and to help us and support us, but I’m not ready yet to call it home,” she said.
Kulybanych moved to Banff three years ago, not long after she got a phone call from her father in Ukraine.
“He just called me and said, ‘You are not coming to Ukraine until this war ends, but I’m going to fight,’” she said.
“He didn’t have to fight, but he said that he cannot look the young men in the eye, so he made his decision and we had to find peace with that,” she paused with tears in her eyes.
Nine months later, her father was killed during an attack in Donetsk. He was just 55 years old.
“There are easy days, happy days merged together with sadness and just despair — trying to find happiness in life,” Kulybanych said.
“He meant everything to me.”
Olha Kulybanych and her father on her wedding day back in Ukraine.
Supplied
Kulybanych is part of a growing community of Ukrainians who have found refuge in Alberta’s Bow Valley area, to the west of Calgary in the Rocky Mountains.
Svitlana Stasenko and her teenage daughter also arrive in Canada three years ago.
“Seems to me, my life just stopped,” said Stasenko, who was an accountant for a large company in Ukraine’s Kharkiv region. She’s now working as a cleaner and at a grocery store in Canmore.
Her husband, a university professor, stayed behind to fight for their country. He’s been on the frontlines since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022.
Svitlana Stasenko with her husband and daughter back in Ukraine.
Supplied
Stasenko said her husband can’t always tell his family where he is for safety and security reasons, so he sometimes sends smile emojis to let them know he’s ok.
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Stasenko arrived in Canada when her daughter was 12 and she said she feels sadness over the moments and milestones her husband doesn’t get to witness.
“I see how she’s growing up and I feel very sad that my husband can’t see it, my mother can’t see it,” she said, wiping away the tears.
They are safe but the emotional toll can be grueling, while daily life grinds on. Stasenko said they feel stuck, on hold as they await the next update from back home.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited to the Bow Valley at the G7 Summit on Tuesday, just down the highway from Canmore in Kananaskis Country.
“Knowing that he’s close to the same place where I live it’s inspiring, it brings hope,” said Kulybanych. “We support our president, we’re hopeful that he will find a way to communicate with other leaders.”
“We need more sanctions, more weapons to Ukraine to be able to protect ourselves, the system that can protect from the shelling that is continuing to happen,” she added, making reference to a defence systems such as Israel’s Iron Dome, that can detect and intercept incoming projectiles.
“Like, look at the last two weeks.”
Overnight into Tuesday, officials say a Russian missile and drone bombardment killed at least 15 people and injured 156 others in Ukraine, with the main barrage demolishing a nine-story apartment building in Kyiv.
Residents react after a Russian missile hit a multi-storey apartment during Russia’s combined missile and drone air attack in Kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, June 17, 2025.
Efrem Lukatsky/ AP Photo
It was the deadliest attack on the Ukrainian capital this year and came as two rounds of direct peace talks have failed to make progress on ending the war, now in its fourth year.
The city’s military administration said 14 people were killed and 138 others were injured in the capital as explosions echoed for hours.
Russia fired more than 440 drones and 32 missiles, Zelenskyy said, calling the Kyiv attack “one of the most terrifying strikes” on the capital.
A Russian drone attacks a building during Russia’s massive missile and drone air attack in Kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, June 17, 2025.
Efrem Lukatsky/ AP Photo
Russia has repeatedly hit civilian areas of Ukraine with missiles and drones, and the United Nations says the attacks have killed more than 12,000 Ukrainian civilians.
Russia has in recent months stepped up its aerial attacks. It launched almost 500 drones at Ukraine on June 10 in the biggest overnight drone bombardment of the war. Russia also pounded Kyiv on April 24, killing 12 people.
Ukrainian forces have hit back against Russia with their own domestically produced long-range drones.
The Russian military said it downed 203 Ukrainian drones over 10 Russian regions between Monday evening and Tuesday morning.
Uncertainty about U.S. policy on the war has fueled doubts about how much help Kyiv can count on.
Residents react after a Russian missile hit a multi-storey apartment during Russia’s massive missile and drone air attack in Kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, June 17, 2025.
Efrem Lukatsky/ AP Photo
Zelenskyy had been set to meet with U.S. President Donald Trump at the G7 summit Tuesday to press him for more help.
Zelenskyy is seeking to prevent Ukraine from being sidelined in international diplomacy. Trump said earlier this month it might be better to let Ukraine and Russia “fight for a while” before pulling them apart and pursuing peace, but European leaders have urged him to pressure Russian President Vladimir Putin into accepting a ceasefire.
However, their meeting never happened — Trump returned early to Washington on Monday night because of tensions in the Middle East.
Canada, however, rolled out a list of commitments at the G7.
Prime Minister Mark Carney announced new sanctions on Russia’s shadow fleet and energy revenues, as well an additional $2 billion in new funding for Kyiv for drones, ammunition, and armored vehicles.
He called the latest attack “barbarism by Russia” that underscores the importance of standing in solidarity with Ukraine and the Ukrainian people.
“To be absolutely clear, the support will be unwavering until we get a just peace for Ukraine and the Ukrainian people,” Carney said on Tuesday.
It’s a glimmer of hope to so many who dream of returning back to what is left of their homes and their families.
Kulybanych helped start a Bow Valley chapter of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress Association. She’s vowing to carry own the legacy of her heroic father.
“To keep fighting, fighting for Ukraine like he did.”
— With files from Samya Kullab And Vasilisa Stepanenko, The Canadian Press, along with reports from Illia Novikov in Kyiv, Ukraine, Jill Lawless and Rob Gillies in Kananaskis, Brian Melley in London and Katie Marie Davies in Manchester, England.
Ukrainian newcomers in the Bow Valley inspired by Zelenskyy’s visit to G7 Summit
