A Maple Ridge man is flying the blue and yellow flag of the Ukraine high above his house in support of those fleeing the Russian invasion of the eastern European country.
Chris Johnston, a retired Air Canada pilot, has a 50 foot flagpole in the front lawn of his home and on Monday, Mar. 7, he took down the Canadian flag and put up the flag of the Ukraine in solidarity with its people.
Johnston explained he has Ukrainian friends, who used to live just two doors down from him until around three months ago. They moved only a couple of blocks away.
When Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, Johnston asked his friends, Sasha and Oxanna, to bring him a flag to fly on the pole.
Johnston said both himself and his wife, Jo-Ann, feel very strongly about the invasion, and Johnston is planning to leave the flag up as long as it takes for the war to end.
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“Even if it’s a year,” he said.
Usually Johnston is either flying his Canadian flag, a New York Yankees flag, or a Christmas flag with Santa on his sleigh – that he puts up at different times during the year.
Johnston said flying the Ukraine flag is very important right now because Russia invaded Ukraine for no reason.
“People are dying for literally no reason at all,” he said.
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Chris Johnston is flying the Ukraine flag on the pole in the front of his home in Maple Ridge until the war comes to an end. (Colleen Flanagan/The News)
