Ukrainian couple used Kyiv parking garage as a bomb shelter before fleeing to Canada

For a second night, Oleksandra Samorodova and Irene Ilchanka sat inside their small car parked in a Kyiv underground parking lot —  a site that had become a makeshift bomb shelter since the invasion by Russia — and set out one important goal once they escaped.

“This second night was a sleepless night and we were tired and we talking and I said, OK, let’s get married when we get out of here,” Ilchanka said.

Those marriage plans are currently in the works, as the couple, along with Samorodova’s seven-year-old son Noah, their two cats and a dog settle into a new life in Toronto, more than 7,000 kilometres away