Salesians Feed Homeless Ukrainians in Lviv

Salesians in Lviv Ensure Food Service to Homeless Ukrainians

Photo: State Emergency Service of Ukraine

(ANS – Lviv, Ukraine – July 13, 2023) – At 2:06 a.m., on July 6, an alarm sounded suddenly in Lviv announcing the risk of a missile and drone attack. Subsequently, several loud explosions echoed thruout the city in what was considered one of the biggest attacks on civilian infrastructure in western Ukraine since the beginning of the war. The Salesians of Don Bosco, active in Lviv, immediately mobilized to help the people most in difficulty, who remained deprived of everything and in need of comfort.

On that terrible night, the Ukrainian Air Force was able to destroy 7 out of 10 missiles. The Russian attack on Lviv damaged a very large condominium, in particular, in the area that is considered a World Heritage Site, the Lviv-Historical Center Ensemble. In total, about 35 buildings have been severely damaged, and 50 apartments are uninhabitable. Residents left homeless and without anything are provided with temporary dormitory or campus accommodation for internally displaced persons or, if possible, other accommodation.

On the morning of July 7, the Ministry of Internal Affairs announced the results of the rescue operation. According to the city council, 48 people reported injuries of varying severity. Of these, 6 remain in the city’s hospitals for treatment. The number of people killed as a result of the Russian missile attack in Lviv in the early morning of July 6 has risen to 10.

The Salesians in Lviv immediately responded to the emergency and helped the population unable to return to their homes. Those left homeless were temporarily housed on the campus for internally displaced persons located in the Stryjskyj public park. The Salesians distributed some hygiene products and organized the canteen where the displaced people go to eat every day.

It should also be remembered that the Salesians in Lviv, with the help of the International Volunteers for Development NGO and Salesian mission offices, have provided for the distribution of meals to almost 1,000 internally displaced people in Ukraine from the first weeks of the war. The people are taken in at the Mariapolis modular camp in Lviv.

" Don Bosco’s sons never back down and try to be continuously in solidarity with their own people who are tormented and suffering because of this Russian war of aggression, which unfortunately does not stop and takes away so many innocent lives,” concludes the superior of the Greek-Catholic Ukrainian Vice Province, Fr. Mykhaylo Chaban.