'Courage and determination': Winnipeg conductor details how his wife and mother-in-law fled Ukraine for safety

A world-renowned orchestra conductor says he saw first-hand the desperation and pain of those fleeing Ukraine—but with it he saw courage, determination, and belief.

The war in Ukraine is a stark contrast to the beautiful melodies Daniel Raiskin, the music director at the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra—surrounds himself with. But war, like it has with countless others around the world, interrupted Raiskin's music after his wife and mother-in-law were caught up in the Russian invasion in Ukraine.

“It took a lot of courage and determination,” Raiskin said.

Raiskin said his wife, Larissa, who is originally from Ukraine, travelled to Kharkiv to be with her ailing mother, who was receiving chemotherapy. Days after she arrived, Russia invaded Ukraine.

"The first couple of days, you know, talking with my wife on the phone, hearing the sounds of very near explosions and booming and it was heartbreaking. You had an impression that with every shot with every sound, their building could be next and the line will be broken," Raiskin told CTV News in an interview from Bratislava, Slovakia on Friday.

"My wife realized that if they're not getting out of there sooner than they were anticipated, they may never be able to leave."

Trekking through war-torn streets, Larissa and her mother, along with hundreds of other refugees made their way to the train station to begin a harrowing 40-hour journey to the Ukraine-Slovakia border.

The trip took them from Kharkiv to Kyiv, which at the time was nearly surrounded by Russian forces.

"You hear a barrage of artillery attack and bombing and rockets around you not knowing what will be next," he said.

Communication was limited while his wife was on the train—phones weren't allowed for fear the signals may betray their position and lead to an attack.

"There was a lot of really desperate people. Some of these people were able just to take a plastic bag with the first things they could grab," Raiskin said. "You really need to understand this is a warzone. People were fleeing the war."

Raiskin was in the process of returning to Amsterdam when the invasion started. He flew from Amsterdam to Krakow, Poland, rented a car and parked in a potato field near the border in Slovakia.

“After spending a few hours standing in line, they were admitted into Slovakia, and I met them, and there were lots of tears and hugs,” he said.

Raiskin said he had been to another border crossing, where he saw thousands of people looking for safe passage out of Ukraine.

"The things I saw there, they're indescribable. I mean there were hundreds, thousands of people crammed into very small area," he said. “It was somewhere between Apocalypse, end of the world, Babylon and Noah’s Exodus, all of those things together."

Now reunited with his wife in Slovakia, Raiskin said his mother-in-law has been admitted to hospital in Bratislava with lung inflammation, pneumonia and other health concerns, along with complications from chemotherapy.

"Now we're in a waiting and praying mode, fighting for her life, being brave, but at least we're together and not under rocket and artillery attacks," he said.

"The amount of pain and agony everyone involved—and fear, pure fear—had to go through is indescribable. And at the end of the day, we can still call ourselves the lucky ones, because there are still thousands, hundreds of thousands, maybe millions, that are willing to and need to take this journey, but God knows whether they'll be able to."

Raiskin, who was born in St. Petersburg, Russia, has been speaking out about war—taking to social media, condemning Russia's attack as being senselessly barbaric.

“I just felt obliged, as an artist, as a person, as a citizen, to speak out, and to denounce this terrible act, this senseless criminal act of aggression by one European people against other European people,” he said.

"I think it's important that more and more people take a stand, take a stand and explain that there's nothing higher than the value of human life and human dignity. Everything else is worth nothing without it."

Raiskin is calling on his fellow Russian citizens to have courage to speak out against the war and stand in solidarity with the people of Ukraine.

He hopes to return to Winnipeg next week for an upcoming Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra concert.