'Heartbreaking': Portsmouth man in Ukraine 'acting on instincts' amid Russian invasion

When John Cavanaugh packed his bags in Portsmouth and headed to Ukraine to visit friends in the spring of 2021, he planned to stay for one month. 

That was before he fell in love with the country, its citizens and the entire Ukrainian culture. Cavanaugh said he has since become an expatriate, living in Kyiv, the country’s capital, ever since stepping foot on Ukrainian soil last June. He said he's a Bedford, New Hampshire, native who had lived in Portsmouth for 40 years, since graduating college.

But now, as global attention is fixated on the country amid its invasion by Russian forces, Cavanaugh is planning to flee the country in the coming days and head west toward Poland, joining a mass exodus of Ukrainians leaving their country.

“What’s happening here in Ukraine is heartbreaking,” he said. 

Communicating via text message beginning Thursday afternoon and into Friday, Cavanaugh, 61, detailed the scenes he has witnessed since Russian president Vladimir Putin ordered an invasion into Ukraine before dawn Thursday, Ukrainian time. Putin’s orders, capping off weeks of growing international concern that a Russian offensive was coming in Ukraine, led to the beginning of the invasion just minutes after his remarks concluded.

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Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy reported that at least 137 soldiers and citizens died during the first day of the Russian invasion, with hundreds more wounded.

Before the Russian invasion began, Cavanaugh said, he decided earlier this week to leave Kyiv and travel to Lviv, a city in the western portion of Ukraine, for safety. Cavanaugh said he was staying in the Nobilis Hotel. 

“I was just acting on my instincts, every day I have been calibrating and recalibrating, and two nights ago I got on an overnight train to Lviv,” he wrote Thursday afternoon as darkness had fallen in Ukraine.

Cavanaugh describes scenes, shares images of Lviv 

Once he was vaccinated against COVID-19, Cavanaugh, a former member of Sen. Judd Gregg's congressional staff who said he's a former National Democratic Institute leader, wanted to travel. Having been to Ukraine multiple times in the past to visit professional colleagues and having friends who lived there, Cavanaugh flew to Ukraine last year.

The country is perfect for runners, he said, with plenty of hills. The country’s “Czarist period architecture is beautiful,” Cavanaugh said, adding the country inspired him to reread classic Russian literature penned by the likes of Leo Tolstoy, Fyodor Dostoevsky and Mikail Bulgakov.

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Cavanaugh's Kyiv apartment was a quick walk from Ukraine’s National Ballet and Opera, he said. 

“People, while somewhat reserved and guarded at first, I’ve found to be extremely kind and interested in Americans/visitors from the U.S," he wrote of Ukrainian citizens. "People are well-educated.” 

Cavanaugh left eastern Ukraine before Putin’s directive to begin the invasion and journeyed to Lviv. In the hours since the invasion, Zelenskyy has declared martial law across Ukraine. The Ukraine State Border Guard Service announced that Ukrainian men between the ages of 18 and 60 were banned from leaving the country.

“The men will stay home to defend the country, the city, the district and ultimately the home if necessary,” Cavanaugh said.

In Lviv, Cavanaugh has seen long lines at banks and pharmacies. Despite having to temporarily shelter in the hotel’s underground kitchen Friday morning upon the sounding of air raid alarms, Cavanaugh said the city feels safer in comparison to Kyiv, where several close friends of his remain and have been sharing their concerns with him. 

While out on a walk throughout Lviv later on Friday, Cavanaugh observed several armed Ukrainian soldiers and said there is a slight tension in the air coupled with a willingness to fight. Alarm, he said, that more Russian attacks could occur on Ukraine's major cities has begun to set it.

“People are profoundly concerned, but remain proudly defiant,” he said.

Cavanaugh, who said his family has a “long relationship with the Seacoast” in New Hampshire, and would spend summers at nearby Short Sands Beach in York, Maine, is one of many United States citizens thought to have been in Ukraine ahead of the invasion. According to the U.S. Department of State last month, 6,600 Americans were residing in Ukraine as of last fall.

The government figure came as Russian soldiers were congregating on its border with Ukraine, a total which ultimately came to more than 150,000 troops.

‘We are waiting… in the underground’: Cavanaugh’s friend in Kyiv describes Russian invasion

In the coming days, Cavanaugh said he’ll look to travel by vehicle to one of two borders with Poland - Korczowa-Krakovets or Medyka-Sheyni - where he hopes he will cross over to safety and stay with friends in Warsaw, the country’s capital. The United Nations estimates the Russian invasion could cause five million Ukraine citizens to flee the country. 

Before attempting a further escape to Poland, Cavanaugh is going to stick around Lviv and see if there’s any help he can provide to his friends in Kyiv, which has been a focal point of the battle with Russian troops. On Friday, the country’s Defense Ministry implored Kyiv residents to stay inside their homes and even urged them to make Molotov cocktails to use in the instance that Russian troops descend on the city’s center.

In text conversations with a woman named Sofia in Kyiv on Thursday, Cavanaugh said he sent her a number of safety and security recommendations, to which she responded, “I’m crying and don’t know where to run.”

The woman told Cavanaugh shortly thereafter that she was in an underground bomb shelter. “We are waiting… in the underground… we lie on the floor… hear explosions,” she wrote.

Though not stating where she resides, Sofia told Cavanaugh that she called her mother on Thursday, who was crying and stated she had no money.

“I don’t know how to help… because I can’t go there… very big danger,” she wrote.

Cavanaugh said he will stay in Lviv indefinitely until the safety of his friends in Kyiv is assured. 

“I’m confident in my personal safety as long as I remain clear of key military and other infrastructure targets,” he said.

Cavanaugh said he had not witnessed any significant military activity since arriving in Lviv that would indicate Russian troops have entered the city.

Material from the Associated Press was used in this report.