Video Message of the Head of the UGCC on the 208th Week of the Full-Scale War, February 8, 2026
Glory to Jesus Christ!
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ!
This Sunday marks the 208th week of this horrendous full-scale war. A war that will probably go down in human history as a sacrilegious war, as the gravest crime against humanity, the people of the third millennium, and also as a crime against our merciful, benevolent God, who is Love.
This week, which was one of the coldest this winter, especially in Central, Eastern, and Southern Ukraine, will probably be remembered as a week of struggle for humanity, warmth, and light. Heavy fighting is raging along the entire front line. The enemy is attempting to exert pressure, particularly on southern Ukraine, and for several days in a row, our city of Zaporizhzhia was under constant, intense shelling. People have died, and many have been wounded.
Every night, our cities and villages are under attack from Russian missiles and drones of various types. Once again, despite all the appeals of the international community, despite the condemnation of Russia’s crimes against humanity, destroying the cities and villages of peaceful residents of Ukraine, these crimes continued this week.
We have survived a massive missile attack on the city of Kyiv. Once again, thermal power plants — powerful centers that provided Kyiv residents with heat, light, and water — were destroyed. Entire high-rise buildings were left without any heating or water supply and turned into yet another cold trap.
This week, our cities and villages in western Ukraine also suffered a powerful blow. On the night of February 7, heavy strikes were carried out on the Ivano-Frankivsk and Lviv regions. The enemy deliberately targets power generation centers, power lines that transmit electricity to various parts of Ukraine, and power substations — everything that constitutes the foundations, the basis of Ukraine’s energy system.
But this week, we also received a special sign of solidarity, once again from our Polish neighbor, the Polish people. Following the collection, it was announced in all parishes of the Archdiocese of Krakow that, at the call of His Eminence Cardinal Ryś, 5 million 740 thousand Polish zlotys were collected. A range of humanitarian convoys were sent to Ukraine with these funds, carrying electric generators of various types and capacities, various devices for heating premises, as well as food packages and everything needed to build centers of resilience in Greek Catholic and Roman Catholic parishes. We are grateful to His Eminence for having mobilized all of Poland and Ukraine with this initiative.
Other dioceses and cities in Poland followed Krakow’s example. Today, a similar collection is taking place in the Polish capital among the parishes of Warsaw.
We are grateful to all those who are saving lives in Ukraine today. Thanks to this solidarity, our people are showing unprecedented levels of resilience and fortitude. Thanks to our benefactors, thanks to our Lord God, the Armed Forces of Ukraine, our air defense fighters, energy workers, and rescuers, we want to say once again: Ukraine stands! Ukraine fights! Ukraine prays!
This week, however, we also experienced two joyful events that were like rays of God’s light amid the harsh circumstances of the harsh realities of winter in Ukraine. This week, for the first time this year, there was an exchange of prisoners of war. One hundred fifty-seven defenders of Ukraine returned home from Russian captivity.
We witnessed a very touching, even extraordinary event. A soldier who had been considered missing, killed in the Kupiansk direction back in September 2022, returned to Lviv region. Mr. Nazariy was declared dead on his birthday. Moreover, his body was identified using DNA, and he was even buried. And now he has returned from captivity alive and well to his mother, his wife, and his family. This is an example that overturns our ideas about what is possible and impossible.
We thank God for preserving the life of our defender and are glad that today he can be an example that even in hopeless circumstances there is always hope.
Also this week, Lviv hosted another meeting, the regular session of the Synod of Bishops of Ukraine. It was the 102 nd session in a row. The main theme of this session of our Synod was “Catechesis in Wartime.” We felt that in such dramatic circumstances, the thirst for God and the hunger for the Holy Scriptures and the truth of the Church’s teachings are growing every day. All our catechetical communities, Bible study groups, and societies, even our students at the Catechetical and Pedagogical Institute, have expanded tenfold over the years. The need to have answers to the most important existential questions today leads Ukrainians to a deeper understanding of the teachings of the Church and the Word of God—the Holy Scriptures.
We want to do everything possible to ensure that our Church fulfills its mission as Mother and Teacher. Even in wartime, our children, youth, elders, and people of all ages should receive proper catechetical care from our Church.
We will develop and expand our network of catechetical schools and communities, the apostolate of God’s Word. We sincerely hope that this nation, which is seeking God in the midst of war, will find Him in the community of the living Church, which is our Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church.
In conclusion, I would like to ask all our listeners for their support for our Zhyve Television. This television station is the official information resource of our Church, thanks to which we can be together—walking together as one people of God, scattered not only throughout Ukraine but also throughout the world.
Today, the existence of Zhyve Television depends on the support of each and every one of you. We hope that the ministry that Zhyve Television carries out in our Church will be recognized and supported by the faithful, wherever they may be in these difficult times.
Today we ask: Lord, bless Ukraine! Lord, look upon Your children who face death every day but overcome it through their faith in You! God, stop the war in Ukraine, inspire thoughts of peace in the powerful of this world through Your Holy Spirit! Support those who fall, inspire hope in those who despair!
God, bless our homeland and our people with Your righteous, 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.
Glory to Jesus Christ!
