Bila Tserkva: As Christmas approaches, people in war torn Ukraine are trying to welcome the feast with faith and quiet hope, even as death has become part of daily life.
“We face death every day,” said Father Lucas Perosi, a Catholic missionary priest serving in Bila Tserkva, a city about 100 kilometres from Kyiv that is under constant threat of missile attacks.
He said the only wish of believers during this Christmas season is that God may remain close to them amid the war.
In a report shared by Aid to the Church in Need, the priest described how war has turned loss and funerals into a daily reality. News of soldiers killed in battle is heard every day, and funerals take place frequently in and around the town.
Father Perosi recalled that on the very day he arrived in Bila Tserkva for pastoral service, the area came under air attack. “On my first day here, there was a major missile strike,” he said.
Unlike Kyiv, the town does not have strong air defence systems, making it more vulnerable to Russian missile attacks. In one such strike, a four storey building collapsed, killing two people and injuring eight others. Several homes were also damaged.
Uncertainty affects every part of daily life. Electricity, water, and even food supplies are unreliable. “Sometimes there is power, sometimes there is not.
Sometimes there is water, then suddenly there is none. This is how people are living here,” the priest said.
The situation has worsened due to rising prices and the arrival of refugees from eastern Ukraine. Father Perosi said he often wonders how people are managing to survive. “It is almost a miracle that they endure,” he noted.
Even if the war does not end by Christmas, people continue to hope. “We believe God is with us,” he said, adding that life in the region feels extremely fragile.
The Brazilian priest, who has served as a missionary in Ukraine for over 22 years, said he prays every day that Christ may be born in the hearts of each of his parishioners.