We’d feel safer back in Ukraine
The gang shouted ‘Putin is king’ as they attacked the helpless boy, breaking his jaw in three places. Now his terrified family are leaving Ireland – the country they had hoped would offer them a better life – admitting:
A UKRAINIAN family is planning to split up and leave Ireland after their 14-year-old boy’s jaw was broken in a vicious attack by a group of youths, the Irish Mail on Sunday has learned.
Aidan Vodiannikov, who currently lives in Mullingar with his mother and sister after fleeing Ukraine in April, was assaulted on Friday, August 19, by a group of up to six boys aged between 14 and 17.
Speaking to the MoS with his family this weekend, Aidan said: ‘At around 8.40pm, they made a circle around me and started hitting me. We were on the road where a car could have been and they beat me for a couple of minutes.’
It is believed the boys, who the family have been able to identify on Facebook to gardaí, were of Irish, Lithuanian and Latvian nationalities and were shouting
‘He now wants to move to Canada’
‘Putin is the king’ and ‘go home you Ukrainians’ during the attack.
The boy’s jaw was fractured in three places, while the 15-year-old girl who was with him was left uninjured but scared and shaken.
After reporting the incident to gardaí in Mullingar, he was taken to St James’s Hospital in Dublin, where he underwent surgery.
The boy’s father, Gary Issayev, who is currently serving for the Ukrainian army, still lives in the war-torn country and fears for his family’s safety.
Mr Issayev told the MoS: ‘We always thought of Ireland as our second home because my son’s godfather is Irish and used to live there.
‘My son was so happy and enthusiastic to move to Ireland. He was planning to study at a university to learn programming on computers in the future, but I suppose now plans have changed because of that incident and he now wants to move to Canada.’
The terrified teenager said he is still frightened his attackers ‘might find me and where we live’, adding: ‘I am very scared because with six people, that is not a joke.’
Mr Issayev, who spoke to the MoS from his home in in Lviv, said his wife and children have a baseball bat with them in their apartment in case Aidan’s attackers track them down.
He is so concerned for his family’s safety that he is now making arrangements for them to leave the country.
Aidan told the MoS: ‘[Canada] is a safe country. A lot of friends are living there and they were talking about Canada being great. So when they were listening to that story, they were shocked because they have never seen that in Canada.’
More than 70,000 Ukrainians have moved to Canada and are applying for visas to work or study since the Russian invasion just over six months ago. Aidan’s 23-year-old sister Olgha, who works locally in Mullingar, also told the MoS she is worried for her safety when walking home at night.
‘I am scared and I want to move from Ireland because although it is a beautiful country, I feel it is not a safe country.’
Mr Issayev added: ‘On her way to work she saw the teenagers who beat up my son. She is scared and he is scared. The situation is really shady. In recent nights my son has had a baseball bat in his hands.’
Olga said she is planning to move to Poland as her brother and mother make arrangement to travel to Canada.
Mr Issayev said that despite the war ravaging his country, he feels his family would be safer with him in Lviv than in Mullingar.
He told the MoS: ‘I cannot imagine similar attacks happening here in Lviv. Except for some air raids from time to time, there is little military action in our territory. Even during the war, we don’t have much criminality and you can walk at night safely because there are police patrolling.’
Mr Issayev said his wife and daughter were living in the capital Kyiv when the war broke out.
‘When the bombs are falling, my son was living with me in Lviv but my daughter and my wife were living and working in the capital.
‘It was horrible and I asked them to grab their belongings and come to Lviv, and then the three of them moved to Ireland in April.’
Gardaí have confirmed they are investigating the attack on the Ukrainian teenager.
A Garda spokesperson said: ‘Gardaí are making enquiries following an alleged assault which occurred at the Harbour Road in Mullingar, Co. Westmeath, on Friday evening, 19th August 2022. A male youth was taken to hospital for treatment.’