Address by the Head of the UGCC for the 242nd Week of the Full-Scale War, October 4, 2026
Glory to Jesus Christ!
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ!
This Sunday marks the 242nd week of this terrible, deadly war. This week has been extremely painful, with intense fighting along the front lines and continuous attacks—day and night—on our peaceful cities and villages. Our capital—our city of Kyiv—has remained the primary target of Russian strikes, with many people killed and many more wounded.
For example, on September 25 alone, seven people were killed—including a 14-year-old boy—and 50 were wounded. Much the same can be said of every day. On the night of September 30, another massive attack was carried out on Kyiv, specifically targeting the city’s power grid. As a result, the government was forced to implement emergency power outages in Kyiv. Seven people were killed that day as well, including a small child.
How cynical it is to attack educational and scientific institutions. In the center of Kyiv, a Russian drone struck the building of the National Academy of Sciences.
And on October 1, as we were celebrating the Feast of the Protection of the Holy Virgin Mary, the Russians struck a school. It is a great blessing that no one was hurt because the children took shelter in time.
We are grateful to God and the Armed Forces of Ukraine for helping us survive this week. It feels as though the enemy intends to do everything in its power to ensure that, particularly in Kyiv, air raid sirens sound continuously. For example, on September 30, the air raid siren sounded for 12 hours and 45 minutes without a break. Obviously, such circumstances bring the city’s life to a standstill in every respect.
However, one very hopeful event took place this week. We would like to thank Pope Leo XIV’s special envoy, His Eminence Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, for his successful visit to the Russian Federation, to Moscow, and, in particular, for ultimately securing permission from the Russian authorities to visit Ukrainian prisoners of war. Until now, the Russians had not allowed any international institution to visit the places where our young men and women are being held captive. Thank God that such a powerful breakthrough in humanitarian diplomacy has finally occurred.
It should be noted that, prior to this, Cardinal Zuppi had visited Russian prisoners of war in Ukraine and subsequently pressed the Russian side to grant similar permission. And, fortunately, that permission was granted.
This is an extremely important gesture and step. Just imagine: a prisoner of war is not merely held in a place of confinement. He is isolated from time and space. He does not know where he is. He is subjected to a regime of detention in which he does not know whether it is day or night, what season it is outside, or what day of the calendar it is. They want to strip him of his faith that anyone remembers him, to erase this person’s very name. And here, in that realm of captivity, torment, and human suffering, the figure of the Pope’s envoy appears with a word of blessing.
This means that no one is forgotten. The Lord God remembers each and every one of us. And Mother Church ensures that all our prisoners of war and illegally held hostages are released as soon as possible.
We would like to express our special gratitude to Pope Leo XIV for his tireless efforts to ensure that human dignity is preserved, even in the midst of war. Human dignity, which is the foundation of international humanitarian law. Ukraine does not officially disclose the number of its prisoners of war held by Russia. But earlier this year, in February, the President of Ukraine cited a figure of 7,000 of our young men and women held captive by Russia. This number may have changed because, by God’s grace, prisoner exchanges have taken place. Yet, unfortunately, hostilities continue.
Some 114,000 of our soldiers are missing in action. And every time we strive—and succeed—in ensuring that the names of our young men and women, the defenders of Ukraine, are preserved and their dignity is honored, we are truly taking a steadfast step toward a just and lasting peace.
No one is forgotten—not only in the memory of our Church and our people, but the Lord remembers them all.
That is why today, once again, we declare to the whole world with the mighty voice of the Ukrainian people’s faith, hope, and love: Ukraine stands. Ukraine prays. Ukraine fights!
This week we celebrated a significant feast in our liturgical, ecclesiastical, and folk traditions—the Feast of the Protection of the Most Holy Mother of God. It is a feast that allows us to experience God’s protection over our people. When all other human efforts fail to provide us with support, protection, or comfort, we know that the Mother of God spreads her omophorion over her children in Ukraine.
It is no coincidence that the Feast of the Protection is the feast of the Ukrainian Cossacks and the feast of the Defenders of Ukraine.
But on this Feast of the Protection, Ukraine and our Church received a special gift from the Lord. In the city of Chortkiv, in the Ternopil region, the episcopal consecration of a new bishop of our Church, Bishop Terentiy Tsapchuk, took place. He was consecrated as Auxiliary Bishop of the Buchach Eparchy. This gesture, this event, which took place with the blessing of the Holy Father, is a clear sign that the Lord God continues to watch over His people in Ukraine. The Lord God sends shepherds to be teachers to His people, to sanctify them, and to lead them to the Lord God. And the Mother of God continues to cover us with her omophorion, pray for us, and intercede before the throne of God.
Today we pray:
Lord, bless Ukraine; protect our cities and villages from the daily Russian attacks, deadly missiles, and drones.
Lord, bless our Ukrainian military!
O Lord, strengthen all those who defend human life and dignity in Ukraine! Bless all those who, through the power of the Church and humanitarian diplomacy, are saving the dignity and lives of our prisoners and hostages!
O God, bless our homeland with Your just, heavenly peace.
The blessing of the Lord be upon you, through His grace and love for mankind, always, now and forever, and for the ages of ages. Amen.
Glory to Jesus Christ!
