May, 10-17, 2025

Christ is risen!

Yesterday we returned from Donbas. Today is the funeral of our parishioner and defender Mr. Oleksandr Kalinichenko. And this is something that hurts in a special way. This reality and everyday life is so difficult, that it is hard to agree and accept.

In particular, in Donbas we were in Rodynske, 10 kilometers from Pokrovsk. This is not the first time we have been there. And it is always some kind of experience of how difficult it is for people who live there to stay.

Also, in fact, these days, evacuations are constantly taking place from Pokrovsk and from other cities. We are now hearing about the enemy’s advance towards Konstantynivka and Druzhkivka. It is also very painful for us, because we have friends there. We have a mobile shelter there, which we have been helping for a long time. In Rodynske itself, people have been living without electricity for 8 months, water is being brought in, but there is practically no communication. What we can help the bedridden, elderly people with is, of course, hygiene and diapers. We always bring food for animals, because a lot of animals were evacuated to this area from Pokrovsk, Myrnohrad and other places. We bring clothes, everything related to lighting, gas cylinders, and medicine if possible. In order to fulfill the basic needs of residents… we encourage evacuation. In those places, life seems to have frozen, or is full of anxiety with the question of what will happen next. Despite everything, we believe that our Defenders will defend and push the enemy further. And this is what people hope for as well.

This week we received a humanitarian cargo from our friends Freta Charitables. Mr. Pavlo Bandazhevsky brought us a cargo that was handed over by XENIA Association. The director of the foundation, Mrs. Agnieszka Tombinska, cares for Ukraine with all the humanitarian aid. We also received a shipment from Mr. Mariusz Markowski, from the Good Brother Charitable Foundation. Thanks to this support, we can share and pass on to those who live in the difficult realities of war.

We thank all our friends, who support us and who care about us. I ask you to pray for the residents of Kherson. Yesterday there was shelling of the city, in particular the railway station, Tavriyskyi district. Please pray for people who constantly live under enemy shelling.

We also pray for those who suffered in Sumy, where people who were going for their business were attacked by an enemy drone. We pray for their families, their loved ones.

With prayers

Fr. Mykhailo Romaniv OP