Ukrainians brave shelling to mark Orthodox Easter

KHARKIV • Ukrainians yesterday marked a sombre Orthodox Easter two months into Russia's invasion, with many braving bombardment for blessings and others mourning their loved ones.

Under the rain at a military position in the eastern town of Lyman, soldiers greeted one another on the front line with "Christ has risen!"

Dozens of police arrived at the town's small Orthodox church, some in bulletproof jackets, and one carrying a large cardboard box of Easter cakes to be blessed with holy water by the priest.

They joined dozens of civilians who had gathered to pray from dawn, the sound of artillery fire resounding throughout the singing of the psalms.

"If we make the wrong choices, then darkness will ruin us, as darkness is destroying us during this war," the priest said in his sermon. "We are thankful for the humanitarian aid and the community taking care of the displaced."

The war in Ukraine has killed thousands and forced millions to flee their homes since Russia invaded on Feb 24.

In the town of Bucha outside the capital, people mourned their dead when Russia withdrew late last month after weeks of devastating occupation.

A row of people with their heads bowed, some crying, paid their respects before the communal grave behind St Andrews Church.

"Today is a sunny day - like spring - and we have a hope that everything will end soon and our army will kick the invaders out of our country," said Ms Lyubov Kravtsova, 59, fighting back tears.

"Still, this is very hard for me," she added, noting the terror and deprivation of the war.

People stood shoulder to shoulder in a row outside the church, carrying wicker baskets of food.

St Andrew's priest Andrii Holovine greeted the faithful and sprinkled them with holy water.

"Our people live under bombing and shelling, with tears, grief and sorrow - but we need rays of hope. And this holiday gives us hope," he said, adding that forgiveness for the horrors in Bucha and elsewhere in Ukraine was still a long way off.

"It's very important that evil be judged in The Hague tribunal and all war criminals be named."

In the eastern city of Kharkiv near the Russian border, around 50 people braved possible bombardment to attend mass at the Gvardiytsiv Shironintsiv Church.

An elderly woman in a purple and white woolly hat carried two Easter cakes she had baked.

"I just want to be able to sleep properly," she said, after weeks of relentless bombardment.

Mr Andrey Golovchenko, a civilian helping out in the church, said more people came to the sanctuary these days than before the war, and not just to receive aid.

Outside the Bernardine Church in the western city of Lviv near the Polish border, 27-year-old Yuliya listened to the service from the courtyard with a friend.

"We have a war now, and it is especially important to follow our traditions," she said.

Across the vast country a day earlier, people had made preparations, however modest.

In the eastern city of Severodonetsk, Ukrainian troops hid three large Easter breads covered in icing under a bridge, among their small stock of water bottles, cereal bars and Kalashnikov rifles.

In Slovyansk to the west, residents dropped by the cathedral for a quick blessing, then hopped back on their bikes and sped off, as the boom of artillery fire resounded in the distance.

Paisiy, a 34-year-old priest, stayed in the city because it was his job. "People are afraid. When they come here and see the priest, it brings them a feeling of security," he said.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE