Family who escaped war in Ukraine among those boarding Canadian evacuation flights out of Israel

Long wait times expected for Gaza refugees program Immigration lawyer Kelly O'Connor says the unclear processing time of Canada's Palestinian refugee program is concerning as the war rages on

As of Sunday night, more than 1,000 passengers have been airlifted out of Israel on Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) evacuation flights—among them, a family who is going through this for the second time.

Yuliya Tolpyhina and her family originally hail from Dnipro, Ukraine, and have found themselves in the crossfire of two wars spanning two continents in less than two years.

She told CTV News’ Adrian Ghobrial inside Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv that it hasn’t been an easy ride over the last few years.

“She was born in Canada, Toronto, two months ago,” Tolpyhina said, pointing to the baby sleeping peacefully in her arms. Although the baby is the only Canadian citizen in the family, they wrote to the embassy and received approval for them all to get on a CAF flight out of Israel.

Tolpyhina, her husband Zlata and their daughters fled their home in Ukraine one month after the Russian invasion. They initially came to Israel, where they applied for an emergency visa to Canada, which didn’t arrive until May. After settling in Toronto, Ont. they decided recently to return to Jerusalem so Tolpyhina could continue pursuing the PhD she’d started there.

Then, last Saturday morning, they heard a familiar sound.

“When they heard the sirens again, it was very hard, especially for the older kids because they remember everything they went through in Ukraine,” Tolpyhina said.

In the wake of the Oct. 7 Hamas attack, the family decided they needed to return to the safety of Canada.

She said it hasn’t been easy, leaving Ukraine and coming to Canada, then coming to Israel only to have to leave again. But they’ve received a lot of support along the way, something she feels grateful for.

“Of course I’m very grateful that I can take them to a safe place,” she said, explaining that they did try to purchase a plane ticket to fly out earlier in the week, but that their flight was cancelled by the airline.

Cancelled flights is something that has plagued Canadians attempting to escape the conflict. There's believed to be at least 800 more people who're still waiting for a flight to Canada.

“We're working through the list as fast as we can to get people onto flights. As I said, two more today, two more tomorrow,” Lisa Stadelbauer, Canada's ambassador to Israel, said. “And then after that, we'll assess the need will keep rolling as long as the demand is there.”

“It’s not easy to leave a country for the second time,” Tolpyhina said.

“No one wants their kids to go twice through war and escape twice from war.”

The family said that they simply want what so many of us take for granted — to be able to raise their children without the constant threat of war.

With files from CTVNews.ca's Alexandra Mae Jones