New class, new country: Children escaping war in Ukraine get ready to start school in Manitoba

Like many other five-year-olds, Maksym Okhrimenko is getting ready to start kindergarten. But for him, that means more than just getting used to a new class or teacher. 

Maksym is getting ready to learn in a new language, in a new city, in a new country. 

“He doesn’t speak any English and it’s really a problem now, but I think it will be fast when he starts” school, said his mom, Yuliia Okhrimenko. 

“Everything will be OK.”

She and her son are among the more than 6,000 Ukrainians who have arrived in Manitoba in recent months, following Russia’s invasion of the country. That includes more than 800 children, according to