When Anastasiia Parfonova boarded a plane in Toronto on Feb. 23, she didn’t expect she’d soon be making plans to help some of her family flee the country they’d always called home.
It was supposed to be a trip home for her to get treatment for a knee injury and to visit relatives. That night, Russian President Vladimir Putin commenced what he called a special military operation in Ukraine — an operation that is now a full-on invasion.
“When everything started, I was literally waiting for my plane to take off,” said the 25-year old, who was in disbelief over the
