A chance friendship that developed between a Gimli resident and Ukrainian newcomers turned out to be a family affair after they discovered they were related.
From left: Romanna Klymkiw and her husband Michael, Kristina and Misha Kostiv, and Vova and Yuliia Kostiv. After emigrating from Ukraine to Gimli, Misha and Vova discovered Romanna is their distant cousin
Romanna Klymkiw, who lives in Gimli and has grandparents who emigrated from Ukraine, said she was surprised to find out that some of the Ukrainians she became good friends with over the two or so years since their arrival in town are actually distant cousins.
“We all think it’s pretty amazing. They are some of my favourite people and my closest friends. I am a person who believes in chosen families, but I think finding out that there was a genetic connection between us is something really special,” said Klymkiw. “I think the chances of becoming such close friends with people you met from across the world and then finding out you have a DNA connection is bizarre. But it shows us how small the world really is.”
After Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Klymkiw began overseeing the resettlement of Ukrainians who chose to come to Gimli. That included organizing a collection depot for donated clothing and household items.
Sisters-in-law Kristina and Yuliia Kostiv and Yuliia’s son, Kostiantyn, were among the first in a small group of about 12 Ukrainian newcomers to arrive in Gimli that year after the Canadian government authorized emergency entry for Ukrainians. They and Klymkiw became friends. Their husbands, who arrived in Gimli later, turned out to be Klymkiw’s distant cousins.
“I wanted to help resettle the newcomers. I grew up in Winnipeg and I know what it feels like to move to a small town without connections and how challenging it can be. So I made a big effort to help people build community and connections with one another,” said Klymkiw. “Over time, me and Kristina became very close. Kristina’s husband, Misha, arrived in Gimli at the end of 2022, and Yuliia’s husband, Vova, arrived in 2023.”
The three couples started spending a lot of time together over the next few years, including at Christmas and New Year’s Eve and during the summer when they’d have barbecues on weekends. They even took holidays together.
Then in 2024, Klymkiw’s mom made a Facebook post for Mother’s Day, and shared some “neat family photos” that she had received from a cousin she had reconnected with.
“In one of the photos my mom posted is her great-great-grandmother, Helena Kostiv. I thought, ‘Wow, that’s the same last name as my friends Misha and Vova.’ So I asked them what village in Ukraine their parents were from and it turned out to be the exact same village, Vilkhovets, as my mom’s great-great-grandmother’s,” said Klymkiw. “We thought there must be a chance we’re related.”
In 2025 they decided to buy DNA tests. The results showed that “we do have matching DNA,” said Klymkiw. They also had a Klymkiw family tree as another reference source. The name Kostiv (Ukrainian spelling) shows up in her family tree as Kostiw, the anglicized version.
“They’ve spent quite a bit of time with my parents, and my mom thinks this is so neat because it’s her family connection,” she said. “They’ve met my sister and a couple of our cousins — their cousins, too!”
They’re hoping to meet Misha and Vova’s parents in Ukraine when the war ends and it’s safe to do so.
Misha Kostiv said it would be an understatement to say that he and his brother were surprised to find a distant relative so far from home.
“It was one of those moments where everything just stops for a second. Vilkhovets, a small village in the Ternopil region, is not a big place,” said Kostiv. “So when we heard that we share not only the same last name but also the same hometown, it immediately made us wonder if there could be a deeper connection.”
The more they thought about it, the more it seemed possible they “weren’t just strangers meeting by chance but distant relatives whose paths somehow crossed again, thousands of kilometres away from home,” he said.
He has always been curious about his family history, he said. Since he was a child, he would collect old family photographs and ask who the people were, where they lived and what their story was. At home in Ukraine, he had been thinking about doing a DNA test to discover more about his family history. The unexpected connection with Romanna’s family was the final push.
“It felt like a rare opportunity to turn curiosity into something real,” said Kostiv. “I realized that if I didn’t do the test now, I would always wonder.”
They used MyHeritage for the DNA test. It didn’t, however, show any direct connection between them, he said. Normally it would show matches up to about fourth or fifth cousins. So they uploaded their DNA to GEDmatch, which provides more in-depth analysis.
GEDmatch found a shared DNA segment of 7.4 centimorgans, pointing to a common ancestor about seven or eight generations earlier.
“On its own, that might seem like a distant connection. But when you combine that with the fact we share the same last name and come from the same small village, it becomes much more meaningful,” said Kostiv. “At that point, it stopped feeling like a coincidence. It became clear that we are connected through a real shared ancestor, and that realization was honestly incredible.”
The Kostivs had decided to move to Manitoba after the Russians invaded Ukraine because they knew of its strong Ukrainian community and that it has “deep respect” for Ukrainian culture and language.
“That’s how we discovered Gimli, a beautiful lakeside town with a welcoming atmosphere and a strong Ukrainian presence,” he said. “It felt like the right place, and it truly was. We met so many kind, genuine people here and volunteers who supported us in ways we will never forget. And among them was Romanna.”
He said Romanna helped them with “everything,” from finding accommodation to booking a doctor’s appointment.
“To find a true friend across the ocean in a town we hadn’t even heard of just a few years ago, and then discover we are actually family, turns this story into something truly extraordinary.”
When they visited Romanna’s parents, they called their parents. Romanna’s mom, who speaks Ukrainian very well, had a conversation with them.
“It was such a special and emotional moment, seeing our families connect like that,” said Kostiv. “I truly believe one day the war will end. When it does, I hope we’ll be able to bring everyone together, whether in Ukraine or in Canada.”
The DNA analysis also revealed that the Kostivs have relatives in Dauphin, and they were able to get in touch with them.
“It’s an incredible feeling to come to a distant country, across the ocean, and discover that you’re not as far from your roots as you thought,” he said. “In a way, it makes the world feel much smaller and much more connected.”
