Ukraine: Christmas during wartime
Ukrainians participated in the Orthodox Christmas Eve Liturgy in the city of Bucha on Friday. Many were still repairing their destroyed and damaged homes. They are celebrating Christmas amid an uncertain lull after Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered his forces in Ukraine to observe a unilateral 36-hour ceasefire.
"*Our holidays have been stolen from us. I missed Christmas and New Year's Eve. Meanwhile, the Russians are celebrating. We have two children and this year they told us that the Russian Santa died. But they believe in Santa Claus and Saint Nicholas and said they are waiting for the presents from them. So, for the first time in their lives, as Ukrainians, they distance themselves from any connection with Russia," says Ilona Brzhezinska, a resident of Bucha.
"I myself am Russian, but I don't want to be. I cannot express in words how much suffering the Russians have caused us", says Oleksii Sichunhin.
"This holy evening is a very important holiday for us. It is true that we are under God's protection. As for the President of Russia, Vladimir Putin, we cannot trust him at all. He made us suffer so much. I don't feel safe and I think that as long as he walks this earth, no one will be safe", believes Tatiana Shilova, another resident of Bucha.
In the front-line town of Kostyantynivka in the Donetsk region, dozens of believers attended a service to mark Orthodox Christmas Eve on Friday. The divine service took place in the basement of the church. All the windows around the holy place were covered with sandbags.
"Constantly since 2014, I have heard these sounds of explosions. And recently, starting in February, our city is under attack. That's why we pray for peace, for the end of bloodshed," says Volodymyr, a resident of Kostyantynivka.
In the Sviatohirsk Lavra, in the main temple of the monastery, which is under the Moscow Patriarchate, a Christmas tree was arranged. The monastery burned at the beginning of the war. Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, it has become a shelter for hundreds of people.
