The war between Russia and Ukraine, the Lviv priest is ready to go into battle: “Here we need helmets and flak jackets. Does the church also love enemies? Until you see a bomb on a sanatorium, you probably can’t understand it”

“We need ASAP military helmetsto jackets Fourth level bulletproof, clothes and shoes for those who go to fight.” Voice don’t mutate Clear and quiet comes from Lviv, the Ukrainian city with a historical center, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, about seventy kilometers from the Polish border and 160 from the Eastern Carpathians.

To make this appeal, it is not a military man, a member of Parliament, or one of the many young volunteers who have decided to enlist but a member of the catholic christian church. He, like all believers and compatriots, is also ready to go into battle. He will fight by cart or with the clergyman.

When we asked him if he was going to fight, he replied, “I don’t know what I’m going to do; I can’t answer now. Lee Mission It is the preoccupation where I can be most useful: we must organize ourselves and support those who will have to face the Russians.”

Lviv is the city from which many women who work in Italy to care for the elderly come. Until February 24 we knew almost nothing of their lands, of this center of about 800,000 inhabitants where about 200,000 commuters arrive every day to study at the university or to work in industries.

Currently group is the capital symbiosis. It is the place where medicine, food, linen, and materials useful for the military, as well as women and children trying to flee from eastern Ukraine to Poland, Romania or Moldova, arrive, making a mandatory stop in this now-preserved city from the ferocity of Russian forces. At the station, all trains now have only one way: they depart from the east, from Kharkiv, from Dnipro, to reach Lviv, full of people. Other races have been cancelled.

From there begins the Ukrainian diaspora. There are those who remain, who are trying to reach relatives in Italy, Germany and France, who have no one and cross the border on foot, targeting Poland and then surrendering to fate. “Buying protective helmets or protective jackets to defend yourself here is impossible – says Al Fatto.it Don Ihor – There is no more. What we find comes from Warsaw through people who are still able to take back what we need most.”

Don Johor until a few days ago was involved in souls, youth and pastoral care. Now he also has to learn the language of war: “I don’t know what the fourth level of a flak jacket is, but I report what those who use it have told me.” His name in Ukrainian means “God is Generous”. Don Ihor sure, he knows, but Now it is not enough just to pray: “It is possible that they will get here and we must be prepared. Putin said: He wants all of Ukraine.”

Lviv expects the attack. Don Ihor’s words describe a city on alert: checkpoints everywhere; The streets are full of Frisian horses; Houses and shops turned into fortresses. And then, behind the scenes, ants of men, women and children bring Molotov cocktails with glass bottles; Those who collect protein bars and freeze-dried tea have arrived from the rest of Europe to send them to those already at the front.

While writing, the resistant priest tells us in a video (preferring not to reveal it for fear) that a large number of medicines leave from the Lviv station to Kyiv. “The food is there. find it. It comes from Poland, where you can still cross the border. Send us money To buy tools to protect us and medicine. All the weapons that arrived from your states went to the east where there is now a great need,” explains Don Ihor, as if it was an incantation.

His mass, since the start of the war, has been among the people. Everything is urgent. There is madness and fear, but the priest is also very rational: “I Russian saboteurs have been here for three months. They arrived in November: they rented houses and helped plan everything for three months. Photograph the streets of our cities. They drew the maps and eventually with green paint they put on the ground where the paratroopers could land.”

According to the priest, all this happened with deception, a partner in every war: “They told lies. And now they keep talking about it. I have contacts in Kherson where they now watch only Russian TV; They sent me videos telling people that they are bringing peace against the Nazis. In recent days there has been talk of crematoriums to hide the bodies of Russian soldiers: photos do not appear, but here we have photos and videos that testify to this. ”

Don Ihor is connected to the rest of the world. Every day he tells his friends the vowels, with pictures: live, recorded testimonies show a crowded city, in turmoil. In Italy, the Ukrainian priest is in contact with Anna, who has been living in our country for years, in the Madonna di Campiglio. It was he who celebrated the wedding of this young woman and her husband Matteo in Lviv.

Anna still has a mother and a father in Ukraine and a brother: “None of them want to escape here. My parents built their house very hard, the animals and don’t feel like giving up everything now. My brother reaches out to the organization but then, as soon as he can, he will go To fight for our country. If I had no children, I would have joined himAnna does everything in her power to lend a helping hand to her people, as she sets in motion a great machine of solidarity. A sister-in-law and a friend with their daughters have arrived at her home. She has called counsellors, mayors and bishops to gather what is most useful: “We must move quickly. We were not ready to invade the entire country. Every day I hear Don Ihor. He knows what is needed now. All our phone calls end like this: “Slavic Ukrainians” (Glory to Ukraine) and my answer is “Hero Slav” (Glory to Heroes).” A shudder comes at hearing these last words.

The Don is effectively informed, he is prepared, and he also knows that Italy is divided over peace. Knows about today’s demonstration in Rome. When we mention the discord in military supplies, he does not hesitate to reply: “I am part of the Church, we are required to love even enemies, but when you are at war you have responsibilities. I want to explain myself with a trivial example: If I saw on the street a man beating a child, It is my duty to intervene and stop him in every way.Our choice is not between doing or not, but between defending the weakest or not. You may not understand until you see a bomb on a kindergarten with your own eyes“.