Interview With Priest Reveals Horrors Of War In Ukraine

In March 2022, Russian troops occupied the city of Kherson in southern Ukraine. Nine months later, a Ukrainian counteroffensive forced the Russians to retreat from the area in early November. But as winter approached, the Russians took a nearby bank, and then, due to a lack of electricity and heat for the coming winter,  the Ukrainian state evacuated all who were willing to leave.

By the end of January 2023, an estimated 40,000 people were left in Kherson. For months, the city was subjected to daily missile and artillery strikes. On June 6, 2023, the nearby Nova Kakhovka dam was destroyed.

Aid to the Church in Need spoke to one of its project partners, Father Ihnatij Moskalyuk, OSBM, who remained in Kherson with his colleague, Brother Pious, to help the local population. Father Moskalyuk, OBSM, is rector of the Basilian monastery of St. Volodymyr the Great in Kherson.

How has life changed since February 2022?

It is not easy to describe how my life has changed since February 24, 2022. Since the war began, I have lived in the knowledge that each day might be my last, and when I go to sleep, I don’t know if I will live to see the sunrise. This is my life, day after day.

At the beginning, I found it hard to deal with this situation psychologically, but then I asked the Lord, during the adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, to give me an answer. That was when courage started to flow through me, and I told Brother Pious, who remained with me during the occupation, that from that moment on, we would live as we had before the war, which is to say, dedicating ourselves to prayer and to helping the people who stayed in Kherson. Those who stayed were the elderly, the sick, the young who had nowhere else to go, and those who were trapped by the war. We could not leave these people to cope by themselves. 

What impact did the destruction of the Nova Kakhovka dam have on you and on your surroundings?

When we learned that the Nova Kakhovka dam had been destroyed, and that the waters in Kherson could rise three or four meters, everyone was scared. What would happen? What would the flooding be like? But we faced this new situation just as we had the beginning of the war: nothing could shake our trust in God, in our Lord. And so, we really began to trust in God, and to put all these things that were happening, as well as anything caused by the flooding, in His hands.

Of course, it was terrible to see buildings destroyed before our eyes, animals drowning, and attempts to rescue people who had been trapped in their houses. But our trust in God remained firm, as did our certainty that evil would not prevail, and that the Lord our God would give us the strength to withstand it, just as we withstood the occupation. Therefore, my heart was at peace.

Did you ever think of leaving Kherson?

After nine months of occupation, I needed physical and spiritual rest, and when I told the people of Kherson that I was going to western Ukraine to recover, they looked me in the eye and asked if I would come back. I saw the tears in their eyes, and I responded, “Yes! I will not abandon you. I will stay with you until the end if the Lord our God wills it. If he wills it, I will stay with you.”

How many Catholics live in the region of Kherson?

Before the war, around 95 percent of our parish were Greek Catholics who were originally from western Ukraine, but resettled after World War II, along with their children and grandchildren. There were also those who came to study and stayed to work. Only about 5 percent of them were born in Kherson. The Communist regime destroyed the most precious thing in southern and eastern Ukraine: faith in God. But now, 97 percent of our parish are people from Kherson, because the war had a deep effect on the way people think.

What changed? And why?

Since our monastery helps people and distributes aid, they feel loved, respected, and important. This leads people to question themselves, to think about their lives and their purpose on Earth. They ask, “Why am I here on earth? Who is God? What has God done for me? How can I thank Him, and what conclusions can I draw?”

People ask these questions, and they search for answers. Now, there are many people who come to our monastery to ask for the sacraments of baptism, marriage, and confession. Every day, we have around 25 or 30 people receiving communion, including young people and children. This fills us with joy. The sacrifices that Brother Pious and I made during the occupation are now bearing fruit.

What can we do to help you and your community?

As religious, in our monastery in Kherson, we don’t need anything. Thank God the monastery hasn’t suffered damage. Everything works; we have food, and we lack nothing. But my heart aches for all the people who lost their homes in the war, who are left out in the elements, without a roof over their heads. My heart aches for them. I also feel for all those who stayed in their homes because they couldn’t leave, because they were old, or weak, or bedridden due to illness. That is what hurts me.

These people need food. They need toiletries, nappies, detergent, personal hygiene products. We manage to get food, one way or another, but everything else is in short supply here. Nonetheless, I thank God for everything. Some things we receive from volunteers; people give what they can, and we distribute it. So, I thank God for all those with a generous heart, who are always willing to help. And I thank God because he permits our hands to be His, and because he sends us to those who need Him most. I am grateful for that.

I would also like to thank ACN for helping us to purchase a vehicle, which is indispensable in our pastoral work, especially in this difficult situation.

Isn’t it very difficult to be grateful at a time like this?

During the occupation, I learned to trust God more. Before I trusted him, too, but not as strongly as I do now. Now I thank God for every new day, and for allowing me to live for Him and for others. I thank God that I can sacrifice my life every day. The greatest miracle of these times is that I am healthy, and that God has protected me from all evil. It is also a miracle that our monastery and church have been preserved, and that we have a place to pray, and that our church is not empty, but filled with people. I thank God for that, and for giving us a patron in Saint Joseph, unto whom I entrust our monastery and our city. I give thanks to God and Saint Joseph for watching over us.

Maria Lozano writes for Aid to the Church in Need.