Address by the Head of the UGCC for the 241st Week of the Full-Scale War, September 27, 2026
Glory to Jesus Christ!
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ!
This past week marked the 241st week of this horrific, bloody, and sacrilegious war. Indeed, Ukraine has been at the forefront of the attention of the entire international community at the United Nations.
However, in Ukraine, it has been a violent week, marked not only by intense fighting along the front lines but also by daily and nightly attacks on our peaceful cities and villages. Kyiv has been experiencing constant air raid alerts, both day and night. Kyiv and the Kyiv region have been the epicenter of attacks involving drones, various types of missiles, and other Russian weapons.
On the night of September 20, we endured yet another massive airstrike on Kyiv, which claimed the lives of four civilians, including three children.
On September 23–24, there were massive attacks on the Kyiv region. People are being killed every day, and every day and night we count dozens of wounded.
But during this massive attack, one particularly striking incident occurred. The Russians attacked a maternity hospital in Kyiv. It is a blessing that no one was killed because the rules for behavior during an air raid were followed. But a little boy was born in the shelter—a symbol of the birth of hope for our Ukraine.
We are grateful to the Lord God, the Armed Forces of Ukraine, our medical staff, and our rescue workers for saving lives—for being truly alive, praying, and working for the good of our people and for the good of our Church.
But an especially dire humanitarian crisis is currently unfolding in the city of Oleshky, on the left bank of the Dnipro River in the occupied part of the Kherson region. This city has already endured one tragedy—the massive flooding caused by the destruction of the Kakhovka Dam. Before the war, about 40,000 people lived there. Today, only a few thousand remain in the city and the surrounding villages, including several hundred children.
The city is on the brink of a humanitarian catastrophe. The last food supplies were delivered there from the Russian side in the spring. Today, people are literally eating grass. They have nowhere to bury their dead.
The Russians have mined the approaches to the city and are preventing food supplies from reaching it from the Ukrainian side. The distance from Oleshky to Kherson is just 9 kilometers—a matter of life and death. As far as we know, Ukrainian authorities have even tried to coordinate specific lists of people in order to open evacuation routes. The Russians refuse to agree to this. A literal famine is raging in Oleshky, just as it did in Ukraine in 1932–33. The city is under an artificial blockade. The occupiers cynically watch as people die of starvation every day, yet they hold these people hostage and use them as human shields in the frontline zone.
We ask the international community to speak out and exert pressure on the Russian side to save human lives. Because even the grass is running out, and this city may simply not survive this winter.
We ask everyone to pray for the residents of this city and to do everything possible to save lives.
But even in such dramatic circumstances, we want the world to hear Ukraine’s voice: Ukraine stands! Ukraine fights! Ukraine prays!
This year, for the first time, in accordance with the decisions of the Synod of our bishops, our Church celebrated Teenagers’ Day. It is no coincidence that this day was set for September 17, the feast day of the Holy Martyr Sophia and her three daughters, Faith, Hope, and Love.
Adolescents are a special group of young people who are going through a crucial moment in their lives—a crisis of authority and a struggle to overcome adolescent loneliness. Adolescents need special care and attention from their parents, counselors, teachers, and also from the Church.
It is precisely the spirituality of Faith, Hope, and Love—as the fruit of Sophia’s wisdom—that lies at the heart of the Church’s care, particularly for our children at this special transitional age.
But the experience of teenagers in Ukraine today is exceptional. These are children who have never known a peaceful world.
These are children who have spent their entire lives during wartime and have only heard about peace from the stories of adults, their parents, and relatives. The experience of a Ukrainian teenager is one of air raid alerts, the loss of loved ones, the loss of their home, forced relocation, displacement, separated families, and studying in shelters. That is why it is so important today for the Mother Church to surround Ukrainian teenagers with pastoral care.
Interestingly, war truly steals childhood. And we see today that adolescence is precisely the time for discovering one’s calling; our girls and boys begin to ask themselves and the Lord God what their personal path in life should be.
And it is so important to affirm to our adolescents that their calling is a calling to love, to faith, and to hope—as a gift of divine wisdom.
That is why today we call on all our parish communities and groups not only to surround teenagers with care, but also to listen to them, to hear their voices, and to be mindful of their needs. Because the voice of a Ukrainian teenager, wounded by war, is a very special voice of God that speaks to the conscience of the Church.
Let us make our parishes and communities a safe space for Ukrainian teenagers—a space where they can discover their personal belonging to the great Christian community, which can and must serve them. We must especially surround our teenagers who are outside their homeland with care. For it is precisely in our communities that they must discover their personal identity, receive the transmission of tradition, faith, faith in God, our language, and culture, so that they may carry it forward into life.
Today we pray: Lord, bless the children of Ukraine! Bless our young women and men who are defending Ukraine on the front lines and in the various other dimensions of our existence and our struggle! We ask You, Lord: in the name of the future of Ukraine and the world, stop this war and bless our long-suffering Motherland, our people, and her children with Your just, heavenly peace!
The blessing of the Lord be upon you, through His grace and love for mankind, always, now and forever, and for the ages of ages. Amen.
