Russian President Vladimir Putin did not invade Ukraine out of concern that NATO would encroach on his borders, but concern about “the disease of democracy that could spread like a virus, and that’s deadly for oligarchies and authoritarian rulers,” said the archbishop who serves as a “foreign minister” for the Ukrainian Catholic Church.
Residents and business owners in Brighton Beach — a community where Russians and Ukrainians have been living peacefully side by side for decades — are displaying their support for Ukraine in a variety of ways since the Russian invasion began February 24.
Kateryna Koval of Brighton Beach was relieved when she heard that the Biden Administration has extended the Temporary Protection Status (TPS) program to include Ukrainians living here in the U.S. who do not want to go back with the Russian invasion going on. “Good thing. It gives peace of mind,” she said.
Bishop Robert Brennan is asking the faithful in Brooklyn and Queens to “support our Ukrainian brothers and sisters” affected by the war.
As thousands of refugees from Ukraine continue to cross over the Hungarian border, Budapest’s Keleti train station has become a central hub on their paths to escape violence and search for some sense of normalcy amid the chaos.
As Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine rages on, it’s become a staple of anti-Putin rhetoric to insist that the “whole world” is united in its outrage. U.S. President Joe Biden, for example, has said that the prayers “of the entire world” are with Ukraine, and vowed that “the world will hold Russia accountable.”
In the latest sign of the strain that the Ukraine war is putting on the global Orthodox community, Amsterdam’s Russian Orthodox parish has formally asked for canonical permission to break away from Moscow and to join the Orthodox Patriarchate of Constantinople.
Following news reports about the war in Ukraine is important, Cardinal Michael Czerny said, but meeting the victims of that war — the people forced to flee — has a different impact.
The head of the independent Orthodox Church of Ukraine challenged the international community to “take action so that Russia immediately stops the barbaric ruination of Ukrainian cities, villages and their population.”
Two cardinals arrived at separate destinations on one mission entrusted to them by Pope Francis: to bring relief, hope and encouragement to suffering Ukrainians.
