We stand with Ukraine

Waking up to news announcing war so close to home is something most millennials would have never dreamt to see. For over 20 years, Putin tried to take over or to instigate conflicts in the satellite states of the former USSR. This morning, when we woke up, we found he went through with his evil plan which he had been building up for in the past few years. In the next few days, over 200,000 troops will be moved to Ukraine, arriving from Russia, Belarus and Russian occupied Transnistria (Moldova).

I have friends in Ukraine who found themselves in another world; phones are not working, pharmacies are closed, there are food shortages, air-raid sirens are going off. Putin instigated an aggressive war - on tv, the Ukrainian president urged the hospitals to save up on blood supplies, he didn't have time to put a tie on. People are escaping into Poland or wherever they can. Russia started an invasion of Ukraine, people have died, civilians have died - flats and private property have been destroyed, even hospitals, as of Thursday evening, and schools, as of Friday morning, in disregard to the Geneva Convention, once again. This goes on currently.

Putin has become the great war criminal of the 21st century, for years we have let this autocrat and bully do as he pleased, we made fun of him, some westerners supported him, in the meantime, he was attacking Georgia, funding North Korea, Belarus, etc. For over a decade he has been encircling Ukraine, from the east, from the south - he took Crimea, he set troops in Transnistria, watch out for this one.

Europe is at war. It is time to put an end to this, we have seen war in Europe before. Whoever put oneself and a country's right of self-determination at jeopardy, has no respect for the wars the past world wars. It is appalling that a sovereign and independent democracy in Europe can be attacked and invaded by a foreign dictator without punishment, fear or repercussions. 

We don't want another war, we don't want another dictator to spoil many young lives with bright futures ahead, but it is our duty to stand with our oppressed neighbors in Ukraine, so that they might flourish. Conflict and the loss of life should be avoided at any cost. Humans never learn their lesson from history, and we join most of the world's leaders and peoples in condemning this brutal act of aggression.

We pray for the citizens of Ukraine and that our NATO countries may find a peaceful solution to this horror or indeed help achieve peace. Peace shouldn't be someone else's loss. Putin will regret this. Let us stand against an unnecessary loss of innocent lives. We pray God to enlighten Putin's heart and mind. Our hearts and minds go to young Ukrainian soldiers and their families, we pray for strength and protection - we pray also for those who have died and their families. We pray also for those protesting against the war in Russia and the resistance, we pray for the poor, and for all those countries, often poor, which are taking thousands of refugees in, we give thanks for their courage and we condemn acts of violence or intimidation against them. We pray for peace. We beg for peace.

Edit (a week later): As the situation continues to worsen, as Kyiv is becoming isolated, as more people are dying, especially the innocent, and as the Ukrainian resistance holds valiantly but losing many a lives, we keep sending our heartfelt sympathy with the poor people of Ukraine, that justice might once again be secured.

We pray for the orphans of Ukraine and we entrust the people of Ukraine and its sovereignty to the power of our Lord Jesus Christ through the tenderness and care of the Theotokos. Please also pray for our Anglican brothers and sisters in Ukraine, together with our bishops, +Robert and +David.

Below are the details from the charity effort of the Ukrainian church in Rome if you want to help.

EDIT: As an empath I struggle to get through all the terrible news coming from Ukraine, it is physically painful, but ignoring those who suffer is actually a worse crime, Dante didn't think highly of those who didn't take sides. 

What can we normal folks do? Complaining about gas prices or that your pasta costs 20 cents more? (Even though that's private companies putting you in that situation for profit and neither Ukraine nor Russia). Russophobia is to be condemned, Ukrainians and Russians share a common heritage, that's why Putin didn't want a similar country with a democratic system so close in the first place.

Feeling annoyed because your authoritarian country has put you in a bad situation? I feel sorry for the poor Russians and Belarusans who did not support Putin, we must condemn anti-Russian folks, but we must remind those who complain for the sanctions, that it's not the Holocaust, it's the only way war can be waged now without causing more death, and unfortunately their government is causing much harsher pain and destruction, not to mention death, to the poor people of a Ukraine that never hurt anyone. 

Imagine what it's like to lose someone you love or to become a refugee seeing your cradle home destroyed... not acting (here) is the worse crime. If you act and protest in Russia, you are a hero, and my prayers go out to you.

Let us not leave those who suffer by themselves, Ukraine, Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Lybia. Every time a house, hospital or school collapses, every time a life, especially a young life is taken away a part of the collective body of Christ is cut in pieces and tossed in the fire. 

As individuals we must help and not sit still, we must condemn the horror, we must reject the extremist propaganda that some buy, even here, and help realistically. We must condemn war, the loss of life and livelihoods, hospitals, schools and war crimes, the use of chemical weapons, merciless battalions of mercenaries, the propaganda, and the lies. Remember that peace is not achieved by easing Putin's victory. Bullies must not achieve their goals. Our democracies cannot facilitate that. We must condemn the governments that don't allow all refugees in or make it complex for them to save themselves. Let's not make this a political war, let us not use those who suffer as a way to prove our point. Just help. Our leaders must step in when needed in the way in which we democratically elected them to act, by goodness and the collective good, not for greed or votes. For the Europeans that want to stay out of it, there is Europe outside the EU, Ukrainians want to join us, if we hadn't been saved by outside coalitions 80 years ago, we wouldn't be here today. It is everyone's duty to help others, even outside our borders.

EDIT: As of 16th April, the war continues, Mariupol has been almost completely destroyed, war crimes have been committed in Sumy, Bucha, Kramatorsk and many other cities and towns, civilians have been raped, tortured and murdered in brutal ways while they were escaping or going on with their normal daily lives - over 360 Ukrainian children have been inured and 200 have perished. 

So far, by comparison, more sites have been bombed, more people have died or have been made refugees in this conflict than in any of the past wars of the last 40 years, including Syria.

EDIT: While more death is unfolding, more civilians are being tortured and murdered, more war crimes are being committed, more hospitals and schools are being bombed. Putin, whom many extremists claim to be a defender of Christianity has denied the possibility of a truce over the Orthodox Easter celebrations. Also, as I said from the first day of the 2022 phase of this conflict and despite the heavy Russian losses, it is finally clear that Russia wants to take over the whole of southern Ukraine creating a corridor to the breakaway region of Transnistria and indeed attacking part (or all?) of Moldova. The region has been controlled by the Russians for the past 30 years and they have a strong military presence there, this could be a second Eastern Ukraine.

EDIT: Towards the end of April 2022, several attacks have been reported in Transnistria near government buildings - it seems these were staged by the Russian military to grow anti-Ukrainian sentiments in the region, is the war expanding? Would it expand if Russia wouldn't be struggling in Ukraine?

EDIT (19 June, 2022): Today is world's refugee day. One of the most brutal wars of the last 80 years is still ranging, the death toll is higher than that of any war of the past forty years. Human rights violations keep going unpunished. The war in Ukraine is still very much ongoing. At least 2.3K buildings have been destroyed. There have been: at least 47K deaths, of whom, at least, two are children that are killed every day. Then, over 13K non-fatal injuries, approximately 400 people have gone missing, at least 15 million have become refugees whom we see every day more and more often here in our European cities. Our brothers and sisters from another part of Europe are fleeing one of the most brutal wars of the century. I was touched to see Ukrainian flags flying from the poshest homes in central Rome to farmhouses in the middle of nowhere, Italian countryside. I have been touched to see Ukrainian children queuing behind me at McDonald's and playing in the streets, but these peaceful people should not suffer for the mere reason of their existence and independence. Many of them merely want their home and have lest their husbands, dads or grandads fighting for freedom back home - at a time when Putin's army is growing stronger. At a time when many are more concerned about the price of their gas than the blood of the innocent. As we have been helped in WW2, it is our duty to side with our brothers and sisters in another part of our European home. My ancestors came to America in the 1600s as refugees, lots of other Europeans did the same over many generations, especially the English, Germans, and Italians. Now it is our turn to help others. Let us help Ukrainian and all refugees who are truly seeking to save their lives.

EDIT (26 June, 2022): Russian missiles hit civilian targets, such as apartments, in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv. It is more and more clear that Putin wants all of Ukraine.

EDIT (10 October, 2022): Today Russia started the worst attack on Ukraine to this day, targeting the entire country. People in the West are getting tired of the war and of its economic consequences. As of October 2022, there have been about 30,000 deaths, over 54,000 have been injured, 14 million people have been displaced and 140,000 buildings have been destroyed. Torture and other crimes against humanity at the hands of the Russian army have worsened. Putin is ever more threatening Ukraine and the entirety of NATO with nuclear weapons, especially as the Ukrainian armed forces are capturing more and more of the territories that were annexed to Russia a few days ago. Some people blame Ukraine for the war, how can one possibly do that when Russia is invading them? How can one defend oneself against this kind of aggression? In the past few days, more towns have been destroyed, more innocent civilians have been killed, more have been tortured. They went as far as attacking parks and museums, the everyday life and the culture that defines a country. In the past few days, the Russians are attacking civilians and civilian targets all over the country - even outside the occupied areas. Should the world give in to a bully? Are your electric bills more important than people's lives?

EDIT (10 February, 2023): as of the new year, almost 43,000 people have been killed - Russia keeps attacking Ukraine, even while trespassing neighboring air-spaces, it keeps targeting civilians and murdering them. Russia is encircled in Crimea and the eastern provinces but despite Western aid, there still seems to be no respite for Ukraine and no sight of the end of the conflict.

EDIT (24 February, 2023): the war in Ukraine, people keep dying and the Ukrainians keep fighting with all their strength and courage; Russia will now win this war. A year in, all the free world stands with the proud people of this abused land.

EDIT (4 September 2024): the situation hasn't changed much, except Ukraine has started a successful counteroffensive on Russian territory but then about 3,500 Ukrainian civilians have died this far, about 2,000 children have also died, over 4,800 in the Ukrainian armed forces have also perished. The Russians keep attacking school, hospitals, places of safety. Only today, yet another Russian bombing killed several in Lviv, including children. We must support Ukraine in every way we can.

Scroll down for a list of some of the main horrors committed by Russia in Ukraine.

Lord have mercy on Ukraine.