Andrii Novak remembers flying to sunny Phuket, away from the cold winter of his home in the southern Ukrainian city of Mariupol He planned a few weeks enjoying the weather, the beach, and the gym.
That was in January. Now, six weeks into Russia’s invasion of his homeland, the 31-year-old software engineer is sourcing tourniquets to ship back home to keep his compatriots from bleeding out on the battlefield. His hometown has been devastated by a relentless Russian assault.
“For the past few weeks, I’ve been doing things I never did before,” Novak said.
Talia Maliovana, a yoga instructor who fell in love with Bangkok and has lived here eight years, said few of the Ukrainians in Thailand knew each other prior to the war. Now, they stand united under a common cause.
“We basically connected to each other via Facebook and found a community,” Maliovana…
