A New Hampshire man found himself in the middle of the crisis in Ukraine after visiting friends for several months and is trying to evacuate. John Cavanaugh, 61, of Portsmouth, traveled to Ukraine last June, only planning to stay a month but fell in love with the country and never left.He then found himself in the middle of a conflict.”I’d say people are showing a lot of grace under pressure,” Cavanaugh said. “It’s impossible to empathize until you’ve experienced this, until you’ve been woken in the middle of the night by sirens summoning you to a bomb shelter.”He said shelters are generally hotel basements and metro stations.Cavanaugh left Kyiv for Lviv, the westernmost region of the country.He used his laptop to show News 9 the streets outside his hotel. One family used a box truck to load up personal property and is likely leaving the country.He posted videos of long lines at banks and pharmacies as many people prepare to flee.”The tensions of the conflict, they manifest themselves in ways that you just don’t get by watching CNN or Fox News,” Cavanaugh said.Cavanaugh has many close friends in Ukraine from his professional days as a leader within the International Republican Institute and the National Democratic Institute.He said there’s nothing more he can do for his friends in Kyiv, so it’s time for him to leave the country as well. Leaving the country, however, has challenges. “It’s a logistical problem getting me from this hotel room to the border,” Cavanaugh said. He said cars are hard to come by right now, but he hopes to get a taxi to the train station late Sunday night and from there, the plan is to have a train take him to Poland’s border.His message for those back in the states is simple.”I just want people to you know stay close to what’s happening in Ukraine, pay close attention,” Cavanaugh said. John plans to stay with a friend in Poland for a couple of days, but if all goes according to plan, he’ll be back in the U.S. later this week.
A New Hampshire man found himself in the middle of the crisis in Ukraine after visiting friends for several months and is trying to evacuate.
John Cavanaugh, 61, of Portsmouth, traveled to Ukraine last June, only planning to stay a month but fell in love with the country and never left.
He then found himself in the middle of a conflict.
“I’d say people are showing a lot of grace under pressure,” Cavanaugh said. “It’s impossible to empathize until you’ve experienced this, until you’ve been woken in the middle of the night by sirens summoning you to a bomb shelter.”
He said shelters are generally hotel basements and metro stations.
Cavanaugh left Kyiv for Lviv, the westernmost region of the country.
He used his laptop to show News 9 the streets outside his hotel. One family used a box truck to load up personal property and is likely leaving the country.
He posted videos of long lines at banks and pharmacies as many people prepare to flee.
“The tensions of the conflict, they manifest themselves in ways that you just don’t get by watching CNN or Fox News,” Cavanaugh said.
Cavanaugh has many close friends in Ukraine from his professional days as a leader within the International Republican Institute and the National Democratic Institute.
He said there’s nothing more he can do for his friends in Kyiv, so it’s time for him to leave the country as well. Leaving the country, however, has challenges.
“It’s a logistical problem getting me from this hotel room to the border,” Cavanaugh said.
He said cars are hard to come by right now, but he hopes to get a taxi to the train station late Sunday night and from there, the plan is to have a train take him to Poland’s border.
His message for those back in the states is simple.
“I just want people to you know stay close to what’s happening in Ukraine, pay close attention,” Cavanaugh said.
John plans to stay with a friend in Poland for a couple of days, but if all goes according to plan, he’ll be back in the U.S. later this week.
