Last Saturday evening Ukrainian teenager Kateryna Konyshcheva’s 11 year old brother Artem left her a voice mail which made her smile when she heard it in Carrick on Shannon. “Good night. I love you so much”, the boy said, finishing off with a series of kissing noises.
That was the last message Ms Konyshcheva (18) received from her family before learning on Sunday morning that her mother, step father, newborn baby sister Sophia, and Artem had been killed by Russian shelling in the Kherson region.
On Monday the couple Ms Konyshcheva works for in Carrick, Bashkim Berisha and Ramona Cucharec held a type of Irish wake in their restaurant BR Bistro & Bar where throughout the afternoon locals came to express solidarity and support.
Mr Berisha explained that on Sunday morning he got a text from Ms Konyshcheva saying: “Sorry chef. I cannot come into work. My mom is dead”. He said that because the teenager’s English is not good, she uses Google translate for text messages and he hoped it was a mistake.
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When he rang her she told him that four of her family had been killed, including baby Sophia who was just 23 days old.
“She spoke to her mother every day and got a photo of Sophia,” explained Ms Cucharec. “So on Sunday when she did not hear anything she was wondering and a bit anxious. So she called her aunty who told her the bad news.”
Ms Konyshcheva is in Carrick with her boyfriend Oleksandre Khominets, also from Ukraine, since last year. ”Her mam knew she would be safer here. She left when the war started, when she was 17. But her mam trusted Alexander and knew she would be better off. Mams would do anything for their children” said Ms Cucharec.
There has been an outpouring of sympathy in Carrick for the teenager who is part of the large Ukrainian community in the town.
Local county councillor Finola Armstrong McGuire said Kateryna had been so excited at the birth of her sister just three weeks ago and had been showing photos of the baby Sophia to her colleagues and friends in Carrick on Shannon.
“Yesterday‘s news was terrible,” said the Fine Gael councillor. ”It has brought the war very close to us here. We know the Ukrainians and we know they are fleeing from their land but this the story of what they have left at home, about family.
“But the community will rally around her today and in the days ahead. We are very touched by this news”.
Local people filed through the restaurant on Monday to pay their respects and and sign a book of condolences.
“We are shocked but nothing compared to what she is going through. She was crying all day yesterday,” Ms Cucharec said.
She said they had been in contact with the Ukrainian embassy and would do anything they could to make this horror easier “but she does not want to go back for the funeral. She wants to remember them as they were. And what she really wants is to bring her sister and brother and her granny to Ireland”.
Ms Konyshcheva has another sister aged 16 who lives in Ukraine with her 80 her old grandmother while a 20 year old brother lives in Poland.
Ms Cucharec said a GoFundMe page would be set up to help the family. “Kateryna is like a daughter to us. We want to help.”
Mr Berisha said that being from Kosovo he understood the horror of war and the impact on ordinary people but “I felt numb, paralysed when I heard this.“
Among the steady stream of locals calling to express sympathy was Kathy Maguire from Carrick who remarked on her way into the restaurant: “What can you say? What is wrong with Putin. Look at all the trouble he is causing. We are taking people in - and I am glad we are - but I hope to God something is done to end this war.”
Joan Regan and her son Mark Rodtmann also called into the bistro.
“My daughter, 18 too, doing her Leaving Cert. This touches you heart,” said Ms Regan. “She is so far from home. I am hoping that we can have a religious service in the town.”
Others wept for the four people who had a strong link with Carrick even though they will never make it there.
One woman who is involved in Carrick Tidy Towns said many from the local Ukrainian community volunteer for litter picks and other tasks and were well integrated. “I am too upset to say anything . What can you say?” she asked.
Ellen Oates from Cootehall, Co Roscommon, a waitress in BR Bistro, said “I am 18 too. We see news reports about the war in Ukraine and we think ‘that’s very sad’ but we don’t really get it. When you see someone suffering like this it puts everything into perspective. It makes it real.”
