The girlfriend of Ukraine’s acting head of the State Emergency Services accompanied him aboard a government plane to evacuate Ukrainian citizens who are stuck in earthquake-hit Nepal.
Kateryna
Khramova, a yoga instructor, was a part of the team led by her boyfriend Zoryan Shkiryak. The group departed on April 29 to rescue at least 90 of their fellow Ukrainians at a cost of $331,244.
Arriving
nearly a week after an earthquake killed at least 7,040 people Nepal, the
rescue team included doctors, psychologists, recreation therapists and some 14
journalists.
Their
flight on a military IL-76 aircraft had first been stuck in Delhi in India because
Nepalese officials hadn’t permitted the aircraft to land in Kathmandu. Later
Shkiryak said the plane encountered technical problems over a faulty engine
part, according an official statement.
Regarding
his girlfriend’s presence on the rescue team, Shkiryak told 112 TV that she was
a psychologist.
Her
Facebook page says she has been teaching yoga at the Academy of Real Life
center located in Kyiv’s Obolon district. Khramova also didn’t hide her status.
Her Facebook account revealed that she has been “in a relationship” with
Shkiryak since May 2013.
“Kateryna
Khramova came over here at my personal request,” Shkiryak told 112 TV on May 4.
“She knows the psychology of those (people) who are in Tibet. She was on board
and had planned to be here one day maximum. I think there are no questions here.”
Kateryna Khramova, a yoga instructor, kisses her boyfriend Zoryan Shkiryak, acting head of State Emergency Services.
Four days
after arriving in Nepal, the evacuation has yet to take place. The engine part
replacement the team received didn’t work. Another part the Defense Ministry
sent finally worked. The ministry reported that the aircraft was in “good condition,”
however, when approaching the city, the crew noticed some minor deviations in the
work of one of the engines.
Now the
team hopes to leave the country with all the Ukrainians on board at 8:15 p.m.
local time on May 5, according to Bohdan Kutiepov, Hromadske TV journalist, who
is currently in Kathmandu.
While the
government plane was in Delhi, Shkiryak left part of the team and traveled to Kathmandu
on a chartered plane. In a video, made by Kutiepov, Khramova and Shkiryak were
sitting on a plane together.
While
Shkiryak’s girlfriend was later spotted making
selfies with statues of elephants at the airport, at least 80 Ukrainians were waiting
to be rescued. Some who
remained in Kathmandu have found a shelter at the Honorary Consulate of Ukraine
there. Others decided not to wait for
the rescue plane.
Halyna
Todorenko, head of the tourist club Vezdehod was one of them.
Her group
arrived in Nepal on April 23 for a two-week hiking tour. They were hiking on April
25, but had to change their plans because of the earthquake.
Todorenko heard
about Ukraine’s rescue mission from her relatives in Ukraine.
“We spent
one night (on April 28) in one of the parks in Kathmandu with locals,” she
recalls. Later they got in touch with Yaroslav Belov, first secretary of the consulate, who coordinated the rescue
mission on the ground. Todorenko recalls they spent a couple days at the
consulate where they received a “very warm welcome.”
“The
consulate bought sleeping bags… and they put a number of tents for all the
people who were there,” Todorenko explains, adding that there were at least 40
Ukrainians there. “The consul’s wife
also helped us to cook dinner.”
Todorenko
left Nepal on May 2.
“The
organization of such process (the evacuation) is a difficult one, and it
doesn’t stick to a schedule,” she said. “And Ukraine also doesn’t have much
experience in conducting such operations as requires lots of negotiations on
high diplomatic level.”
Todorenko said
they changed the plane tickets they had for May 12 and made it home. Still,
there are at least 75 Ukrainian citizens as of May 5, according to the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs, waiting to board the Ukrainian plane.
Kyiv Post staff writer Olena Goncharova can be
reached at [email protected].
