‘I have to be a messenger of hope’ says bishop as Ukraine invasion enters fifth year

FOUR years ago when a Ukrainian bishop was told to check his phone, he thought footage of Russian forces invading his country was a “dark joke”.

This morning (Tuesday, 24th February) as the war entered its fifth year, Eparchial Bishop Kenneth Nowakowski led a held a multi-faith service at the Ukrainian Catholic Cathedral of the Holy Family in Exile in Mayfair, London, to remember the dead and wounded in Ukraine. 

The service was attended by religious leaders from the Roman and Eastern Catholic Churches, including the Armenian and Assyrian Churches who shared prayers, as well as rabbis from the West and the North London Synagogues.

Bishop Nowakowski told catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) ahead of the service that in February 2022 he was at his first in-person spiritual retreat in Leeds after Covid restrictions were dropped.

He said: “I checked my phone at 4am. I thought somebody had sent me a dark joke.”

Since then, according to the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, it is estimated that Ukraine has seen 500,000 to 600,000 military casualties, including up to 140,000 deaths and Russia suffered 1.2 million casualties, including up to 325,000 troop deaths.

More than 40,600 civilians were injured over the same period between February 2022 and December 2025. The UN said at least 763 children were killed.

Before the February 2022 invasion, the east of the country was plunged into war following a 2014 uprising by Russian-backed separatists.

The bishop said: “The world can’t have been surprised because there was a build-up of Russian armed forces on the Ukrainian border already leading up to it for months. 

“People said it was just a bunch of ‘sabre rabbling positioning, there won’t be a full-scale invasion and let’s not do provoke anything further’. 

“It should not have been a surprise but certainly it was a shock.”

The war shows no signs of abating with industrial, energy and civil infrastructure destroyed in drone attacks in Odesa, Kharkiv and Zaporizhzhia on the eve of this year’s anniversary.

Bishop Nowakowski said: “As a faith leader and a bishop of course I have to be a messenger of hope and I have great hope.

“I hope that next year at this time we won’t be commemorating another year of armed warfare, of Ukrainians having to defend their right to exist, their right to live but to be well into a time of peace, but also peace with justice.

“Without justice, without bringing the war criminals to justice, without making sure that Russians pay for the reparation of the damage they’ve caused, I don’t know what that means. 

“Maybe it’s going to be a ceasefire but that’s only going to be temporary. I hope that with the help of our friends and allies in the West and in Great Britain that can be achieved.”

He said Ukrainians “have a deep sense of resilience”, but that the suggestion to him by others that Ukraine give up territories to enable peace was “illogical”.

He added: “That’s when you only understand Ukraine as being a territory you see on the map with a little bit of red where Russian occupation is happening. But when you actually know people, you realise it’s not just a piece of land being given up.

“We’re being asked to give up human beings, people, our brothers and sisters, our relatives our friends and then it doesn’t become a piece of land, it becomes people…

“Real people have lost their lives, have lost their homes, have lost their schools and places of employment. What’s happened over the last four years, when I woke up this morning, I knew that today would be a day of commemoration.”

He said his priority was the spiritual and pastoral aspect of the war.

He added: “Here at our cathedral on an average Sunday we have over 3,500 people coming to the church. 

“Either those people have escaped the violence that has been inflicted on their country or people who have been born here, who have family and friends in Ukraine so we have to provide pastoral care for them. 

“We have to think of ways that we can heal the wounds of war both in the general population but also those providing pastoral care, how do we help them?”

He said help and support from ACN was “tangible” and helped people “in so many ways”. 

He added: “Our catechists are still working, our bishops and priests who have not abandoned their cathedrals, even under areas that are under daily bombardment. 

“The help that Aid to the Church in Need is bringing to these people gives hope and solidarity.”