Cases of pneumonia and bronchitis are on the rise in hospitals across the country. It is not only the threat from the sky that is striking the Ukrainian population. At night, temperatures are dropping to as low as minus 20, and people – especially the most vulnerable, such as the elderly and persons with disabilities – risk dying “by freezing”. “The situation remains very difficult”, says Msgr Oleksandr Yazlovetskiy, Auxiliary Bishop of the Diocese of Kyiv-Zhytomyr and President of Caritas-Spes. He adds: “In Kyiv and in many regions of Ukraine, we continue to experience prolonged power outages due to attacks on energy infrastructure. At times, electricity is only available for a few hours a day; at others, it is completely absent”. Every hour, updates arrive from Ukraine. At least four people have been killed and six injured in a Russian attack on Kharkiv in north-eastern Ukraine. The city’s mayor, Ihor Terekhov, later reported that a long-range Russian drone struck a paediatric medical facility, causing a fire. No casualties have been reported. Missiles were also launched overnight towards the capital, Kyiv, and, once again, several districts were left without electricity. “Living without electricity and heating, especially during the winter, is a severe trial”, the Bishop says. “There are sub-zero temperatures that I personally have not experienced in a very long time.
During the day, around minus 10 degrees; at night, down to minus 20.
Meteorologists forecast that even harsher frosts are on the way. Without light, without hot water and with heating absent or minimal, families try to adapt as best they can: they sleep fully clothed, gather in shared spaces or in the so-called ‘resilience points’. It is a life marked by waiting and uncertainty, but also by great mutual solidarity”.
Mons. Oleksandr Yazlovetskyi (Foto Rkc)
In Kyiv, a large proportion of residents have already been without electricity and heating for five days. New bombings are preventing the restoration of heating and electricity in buildings. Some large supermarkets are not operating due to the lack of power. In the city, queues of people can already be seen at petrol stations or grocery shops. The President of Caritas adds:
“Many people in Kyiv are falling ill with pneumonia and bronchitis. Hospitals and schools are also without heating and light. The State is doing everything it can. The noise of generators can be heard everywhere”.
Those most affected are of course the most vulnerable: the elderly, the sick, persons with disabilities, and families with young children. “Today, I met a neighbour”, Msgr Yazlovetskiy recounts, “who told me that she and her young daughter keep warm in her office, because the temperature in their flat is now almost zero. Another family told me that every day they take a battery and go around Kyiv looking for places where they can recharge it, because they have a person with a disability at home who depends on life-sustaining equipment. Last Sunday, a man in his 70s came to church. He told me that he and his wife heat water and pour it into plastic bottles, which they place under the blankets at night. This elderly man said quite calmly: ‘probably we and people like us will not survive this winter’. Another man told me that at home, with his wife, they heat only one room with a ‘gas heater’, where they all sleep together, while in the kitchen it is already minus 10 degrees, and they have a child of about five years old”. From the very first days of Russia’s full-scale attack on Ukraine, Caritas-Spes and Caritas Ukraine have been deploying resources, energy and personnel throughout the country to support the population with projects and humanitarian aid. But the situation is worsening.
“Caritas is powerless in the face of challenges of this kind… We feel like David before Goliath”, the Bishop says.
(Foto Caritas-Spes)
“We continue to support the assistance centres previously opened in various cities. We distribute humanitarian aid. Several projects are active that make it possible to purchase fuel, or provide generators and power banks. But all this is only a drop in the ocean. If the Russians do not stop bombing our cities, you will hear of many people freezing to death this winter…”.
The Bishop is keen to thank our country. “We are sincerely grateful to the Italians”, he says, “for the solidarity shown from the very beginning of the large-scale invasion up to today, and for every form of material assistance provided during this period through various organisations or parishes”. We deeply appreciate every prayer. In the present situation, unfortunately, you will no longer be able to help us in time. For at least another week, severe frosts will continue. This is truly a situation in which only God can help, if He intervenes personally and directly. Therefore, those who believe in God should pray for us, that Russia may put an end to the genocide of the Ukrainian people”.
