Barry noticed Oksana on a dating site in October 2021. After a certain number of letters, he invited her for a video chat. Oksana is a teacher of English, so they had no language barrier. Therefore, Barry requested for her personal contacts so they would communicate more and more often.

After just 2 months Barry decided to take initiative into his hands and traveled to Mykolaiv in December 2022 for a personal meeting. He stayed for another 2 weeks to spend more time with Oksana. These days were filled with hours of talking and traveling to different places. Finally, Oksana introduced Barry to her teenage son. Barry and the boy liked each other, and after his departure, all three of them continued to communicate very closely and get to know each other even more.

In June 2022 Barry came to Mykolaiv again. Due to the unsafe situation in the city which was a battlefield zone and was regularly shelled they all decided to move to Odesa. Barry and Oksana got married in Odesa in early August 2022. Since her son is 19 years old, they cannot leave for Canada now and are waiting for the end of the war and the opportunity for everyone to leave. However, since Odesa is far from the battlefield, the calm life pace there is a blessing for the newlywed couple at the time like this.