Like so many others, one Ukrainian family’s ordinary life changed irrevocably in a single morning last February – setting in train a desperate evacuation that brought a mother and son to find safe haven in Kinvara.
Before their country exploded and their world imploded, Larysa Khokhuda worked as a television scriptwriter, living outside Kyiv with her husband Vasyl, a construction worker, and their four-year-old son Zakhar.
Their home was a tenth-floor apartment in Gostomel, a small town right next to the Ukrainian capital Kyiv which was famous in some circles for one thing – it was home to the world’s biggest and most powerful cargo aircraft.
And that fact – that its Antonov International Airport serves as a base for the Antonov An-225 ‘ Mriya’ (The Dream) – was enough to seal its fate right at the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The Khokhuda family had just finished renovating their apartment in Gostomel – also known as Hostomel, a city of around 25,000 people – and liked to watch the Mriya’s take-offs and landings from their kitchen window on the tenth floor.
On the morning of February 24, out of the same window, they saw about 30 enemy helicopters shelling the Antonov airport and nearby residential buildings.
Later that evening, the Mriya, like the airport regarded as a strategic target, was reduced to ashes too – and this week, they tell their story in the Connacht Tribune.
“We are infinitely grateful to Ireland; we’re ready to work and be useful to the host country that sheltered us,” Larysa says. “But most of all, I’m dreaming about hugging my husband who stayed in Ukraine.”
Get the full story in this week’s Connacht Tribune, on sale in shops now, or you can download the digital edition from www.connachttribune.ie. You can also download our Connacht Tribune App from Apple’s App Store or get the Android Version from Google Play.
Papers welcome Media Commission Report
Unexpected consolations as the clock ticks on by
Trying to keep safety at top of farm agenda
Galway In Days Gone By
Galway musn’t let great chance of final glory pass them by
ALL aspects of farm safety were looked at in detail at the IFA organised demonstration evening in Mountbellew Agricultural College which drew a large attendance on the Tuesday evening of July 12.
The proper maintenance of tractors and machinery; the dangers of falls from roofs; and the care needed when dealing with livestock were all highlighted in the safety demonstration.
A big emphasis was also placed on moving away from the whole culture of ‘rushing and panicking’ to get work done and especially during the busy Summer season.
IFA Regional Executive, Roy O’Brien, said that there had been a great response to the safety evening with a big turnout of farmers.
“We all know the terrible anguish and grief that can be caused by a serious farm accident. The message we want to get across is that with proper care and planning, nearly all of these incidents can be avoided,” said Roy O’Brien.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
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There is considerable truth in the declarations recently made from more than one platform that unemployment is at the root of present Irish troubles.
The placing of a considerable proportion of the male population of military age and fitness on a military basis will not, unfortunately, aid in the immediate solution of this trouble.
Many have become not a little alarmed at the reserve territorial scheme advertised by the Irish Government, whereby those who volunteer for six months’ service will be permitted to retain their rifles afterwards.
The people of Ireland have said in language that no amount of casuistry can alter that they do not want any more militarism; they want to settle down to years of strenuous work to build up the country.
Further destruction and political manoeuvring with the torches and rifles in hand can only make that task practically impossible, further swell the ranks of the unemployed, and end in anarchy.
To stave off this, the Irish Government has had recourse to the methods mentioned but it should have a care lest it might err by swinging over to the other side. Its mandate is to demilitarise the country, and to reap the glorious benefits that await us in the years of peace that we all hope lie ahead.
Half the economic problems that created such trouble in England, and, indeed, in all countries after the war, were due to the fact that young men, half schooled or half learned in a trade, went into the trenches, and left the army grown men without profession, trade, or employment, unfitted for anything, full of the discontent that life under such conditions in the army breeds, and disinclination to entre civil life as honest workers.
It is easy to destroy – any fool or criminal can do that. The build up requires constant application, hard toil, moral courage, and brain power. These are the qualities we need in the Ireland of to-day.
Portumna Bridge, the connecting link between Tipperary and Galway, which cost £100,000 to erect, is reported to have been blown up on Thursday.
The bridge on the main road to Ahascragh was blown up. It is now being repaired, all the male residents forming a civic guard. The enrolment of a similar is being contemplated in Ballinasloe.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
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SOME year, some Galway football team will bring Sam Maguire Cup back West again. Why can’t it be 2022?
How many of the team’s supporters – never mind neutrals – saw Galway even emerging as genuine contenders this year? In truth, they were well down the pecking order at the start of the season.
Who were ahead of them? Tyrone, Kerry, Dublin and Mayo for sure. Donegal would also have had a higher ranking, while the likes of Roscommon, Monaghan and Kildare would have been considered on a par with Galway last January.
Without an All-Ireland final appearance since the county’s last championship triumph in 2001, the team’s struggles since were underlined by a poor record in Croke Park; losing to minnows Wexford, Westmeath and Antrim in the qualifiers; and falling to Tipperary in the All-Ireland quarter-final of 2016.
Galway also flattered to deceive in last year’s Connacht final at Croke Park when a more athletic and physically powerful Mayo took control of the second-half. After two Covid-hit seasons in charge, team manager Padraic Joyce was a man under pressure last winter.
As a former great in the maroon jersey, he would have taken to heart Galway’s decline as major footballing force, especially as his own tenure hadn’t yet turned things around. He had to bite the bullet to help kick-start a revival, and the Killererin man wasn’t found wanting.
Recruiting Cian O’Neil as team coach immediately raised the stakes for the Galway players. The Kildare native is much travelled having worked with the Tipperary hurlers and Kerry footballers in the past, and he was bringing a lot of experience to his latest venture.
Joyce himself remained as demanding and driven as ever, but his persuasion became less dogmatic in nature. With Cillian McDaid finally putting his injury woes behind him, and young players like Seán Kelly, who was appointed captain, Jack Glynn, Matthew Tierney, John Daly and Rob Finnerty now more experienced, Galway were in better shape for a progressive 2022 than many outsiders would have thought.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
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Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
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