Where War Destroys, Hope Still Builds

Where War Destroys, Hope Still Builds

Ukraine Salesian Superior Tells of His Province after 3 Years of War

(ANS – Turin – October 17, 2025) - Tormented Ukraine has the entire Salesian community among its good Samaritans. They take care of those who suffer most and reach even where flags cannot fly, where loneliness and abandonment create a dramatic silence. Recounting the circumstances of the Salesians and the Ukrainian population some 3½ years after the start of the Russian invasion is Fr. Mykhaylo Chaban, superior of the Salesian Vice Province of the Greek-Catholic Rite in Ukraine, who has recently been in Turin to participate in the first profession of a Ukrainian novice formed there in recent years.

Fr. Chaban told operators of Missioni Don Bosco of a daily life made up of hardship and fear, certainly, but above all of commitment, dedication, tenacity, resilience, dignity, and hope. That hope that was further renewed by the profession of the Ukrainian novice.

“It was a great celebration because the young novice became a Salesian. He is one of the young men who came to know the charism thru his involvement in the various youth activities we propose: courses for leaders, oratory, summer meetings. This event also gives hope that this commitment will continue, that it will be successful. Right now, we Salesians are trying to do all we can for education in schools, vocational and academic. We have after-school centers, a children’s home, sports activities for children and for people who have suffered amputations due to the ongoing war.

“We want to do as much as we can to give these young people moments of joy and happiness, even though the war limits us a lot, but we try to ensure safety for all our guests first and foremost. Russian attacks happen mostly at night, but they also happen during the day: the protection of the spaces where we welcome young people, therefore, is an important element of the service we render to them.”

Families from the eastern regions of Ukraine continue to arrive in Lviv, in the west of the country. Towns and countryside are being attacked by Russian forces and refugees are arriving and looking for safer places, says the Salesian superior.

“We also see everything through the eyes of our Fr. Andry Bodnar, who continues to stay with those families in the small center made up of modular houses that we have called Mariapolis: about 250 children, many elderly people, and many disabled people live there. And the number of guests never goes down, because for everyone who leaves, someone else arrives.”

The Salesians try to offer various activities, continually improving and expanding the service according to need: this year they have managed to give moments of joy to the elderly as well, and along with the children and minors who are usually taken for a few days’ holiday in the mountains, they have also brought the elderly, distancing them at least for a while from the daily anguish of war.

The Salesians continue to provide food for 350 people, the most vulnerable: the elderly, the sick, the disabled, and the poorest families with children. “If we end this assistance, it will be very, very difficult for them to go without even one hot meal a day. Since they cannot work, they cannot live solely on the small state economic support.”

The people want to return to normal life. They continue to work even in areas where the land may be mined, so the land is cleared and production is resumed. The Salesians, thanks to missionaries Fr. Oleh Ladnyuk and Fr. Gregory Shved, continue to bring foodstuffs every month to the border areas where families live who have lost their jobs, have nothing, and can barely survive.

In conclusion, Fr. Chaban mentions a not minor detail: in a significant effort of mutual solidarity among the needy, among the volunteers who prepare those parcels there are also the children who are guests of the Salesian family home in Lviv.

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