Magda Kaczmarek has been with Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) for 32 years and is head of projects in Ukraine, Belarus, Bulgaria and the Balkan countries. These are mostly countries where Catholics are a minority.

“Accusing priests of sabotage and espionage brings back memories of the worst times of totalitarian regimes”, says ACN executive president Heine-Geldern.

The people will find it very difficult to survive during the winter with no energy to heat themselves in -20º temperatures. ACN has approved aid packages to counter the energy crisis.

With deep dismay, the pontifical foundation ACN has learned of the detention of two priests who were carrying out their ministry since February 2022 in the Russian-occupied port city of Berdiansk, in south-eastern Ukraine.

The superior general of the Congregation of the Albertine Brothers, Brother Franciszek Grzelka of Poland, recently visited his fellow brothers and brought them a delivery of relief supplies.

With the war entering its eighth month, ACN spoke to Vasylij Tuchapets, Greek Catholic Bishop of Kharkiv about the importance of remaining with the people and the needs in eastern Ukraine as winter approaches.

Kharkiv is a huge city, with a population of 1.7 million before the war, and now only about 20 km from the front line.

With the escalation of the war in Ukraine, pontifical charity Aid to the Church in Need spoke to Bishop Pavlo Honcharuk of the Latin Diocese of Kharkiv- Zaporizhzhia.

ACN is supporting the reconstruction of the priests’ residence, destroyed during the war.

Bishop Radoslaw Zmitrowicz calls on the international community to keep supporting Ukraine and says that prayer is the most important help of all.

ACN is currently giving more than half a million euros in Mass stipends to support priests in Ukraine who are caring for a population that is besieged and under bombardment.

The project manager for Ukraine ACN reports on the solidarity visit to the war zone.

Mgr. Pavlo Honcharuk, Bishop of Kharkiv-Zaporizhzhya, tells ACN about the situation in Ukraine’s second-largest city.

ACN has been sending almost a million AUD in Mass stipends to support priests in Ukraine who continue to serve a war-weary and frightened people. Almost 1,900 Catholic priests are receiving these stipends, all over the country.

ACN has just approved an emergency relief package for Latin Rite female congregations involved in charity work in the Archdiocese of Lviv, such as the Benedictines of Solonka, who opened the doors of their contemplative monastery to refugees.

Millions of people have had to flee their homes to save themselves and their children, abandoning the regions of the east and south of Ukraine, and heading west.

The bishop took part in an online conference at the international headquarters of ACN.

Since the beginning of the war, the Archdiocese of Ivano-Frankivsk, in Western Ukraine, has been welcoming women and children refugees. ACN supports the archdiocese in this effort. Some of those who left everything behind spoke to ACN about their experie...