Russian invasion

The Vatican Dicastery for the Service of Charity, led by Polish Cardinal Konrad Krajewski, spent $2.2 million in 2022 for humanitarian help in Ukraine.

Russia is 28 times bigger than Ukraine, the archbishop said, yet it seeks to dehumanize the smaller nation, calling its citizens Nazis to justify killing them, he added.

Since Feb. 24, when Russia invaded Ukraine, more than 5,900 Ukrainian civilians have been killed and an additional 8,700 civilians have been injured, according to the U.N. At least 972 Ukrainian children have been killed or injured.

Some 300 gathered at Philadelphia’s City Hall Aug. 24 for a midday ceremonial raising of Ukraine’s flag attended by Ukraine’s Ambassador to the U.S. Oksana Markarova, Honorary Consul of Ukraine Iryna Mazur, Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney and other elected officials.

Ukrainian Statehood Day is a national holiday in Ukraine, celebrated this year July 28 in commemoration of Christianization “Kyivan Rus.”

According to the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, since the war began Feb. 24, more than 5.2 million refugees from Ukraine have been recorded across Europe, as of July 4; nearly 1.2 million are in Poland.

Circumstantial and direct evidence as well as eyewitness accounts point to the atrocities being perpetrated by members of the Russian military since it invaded Ukraine Feb. 24.

“A mountain of corpses, rivers of blood, a sea of tears” are the ongoing reality of Ukraine, the archbishop said in his daily video message from Kyiv April 4.