Perspectives on the War from a Canadian Living in the Ukraine | Interview with Frank Williams

Frank joins us today from Ukraine where has been living since October 2021 but his appearance is disguised for anonymity purposes. Frank has also written a satirical book titled “Reasons to Vote Trudeau” available on Amazon. Frank lives in or near Odessa where he is pursuing citizenship to live with his girlfriend and he offers his perspective on the war in Ukraine:

We do hear air raid sirens multiple times a day. We have one right now.
We have food, water, gas, electricity and all municipal services still in Odessa.
We do have curfew and are under martial law.
Curfew begins at 8pm until 6am daily
We must carry ID on us at all times. The police and military have the right to stop and frisk. Or search your phone. (I know this from personal experience. While taking B role on Tuesday for our interview I was stopped by a soldier. Then searched and questioned. Some of my footage intended for the interview was deleted. The police were relatively polite about it.
The authorities are trying to keep the defenses and military locations in Odessa secret.
Social media is getting a lot of people killed. By disclosing location.

Despite all this, Frank has still stated clearly (in the interview) that he would rather be living in Ukraine, a country at war and under martial law, than under the current tyrannies in Canada.

Think about that.

On Why Frank Chose to Leave Canada….

What we're seeing [in] Canada is a very similar pattern to what's happened in the history of the Soviet Union and Ukraine. And [I] encourage people to learn that history, to understand it, so you can see what is coming down the pipe, and you can be better prepared for it. Having done that, I was somewhat more prepared for that in Canada. I've shared some of what's happened last two years with my girlfriend's grandmother, 94 years old. She's a firsthand witness and…when I've told her what's happening in Canada…[it] reminds her of exactly what happened in Soviet USSR everything from freezing bank accounts or stealing money from people's bank accounts …and it was a reason why I left, to avoid some of the things now for myself.

On the history of Ukraine/USSR and the future of Canada…

In the hometown of Joseph Stalin [Gori, Georgia] they built a giant museum in honor of him. It's totally a propagandist's museum with all the murals and all the paintings and glory to Stalin [which] does not mention all the atrocities of the people that died in the gulags or starvation and millions of people that died under the reign of Stalin in communism. It was like walking back in time. And I think that's maybe something that really fascinates me about Ukraine and this part of the world in general. I can literally walk back in time 30, 40, 50 years, see what communism looks like…the future of basically the same problems that happen here in the past will occur in Canada.