Many Ukrainians will seek to celebrate one of their most significant festivals of the year this weekend, Orthodox Easter, despite heavy warfare, terrible airstrikes, and unspeakable loss.
This Sunday, which is traditionally a day of reflection and renewal, will also remember precisely two months since Russian soldiers invaded on February 24, plunging the nation into a deadly conflict.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky pondered the importance of the anniversary in his nightly speech on Saturday. “For Eastern Rite Christians, today was Holy Saturday. Between the Crucifixion and the Resurrection, this is the day. Russia appears to be stranded on such a day “he stated
“On the day when death wins and God is apparently gone,” Zelensky said, “there will be a Resurrection. Life will triumph over death. The truth will triumph over any falsehoods, and evil will be punished.”
As conflict in the south and east intensifies, many Ukrainians are turning to their faith for comfort, while others choose to return home from neighbouring Poland to be with loved ones for Easter celebrations. “This is the happiest I’ve ever been in my life. On my first night here, when I finally saw my spouse again, I still felt like I was in a dream “From Lviv, a western city largely spared from the Russian attack, Anna-Mariia Nykyforchyn, 25.
Nykyforchyn was nine months pregnant when the conflict broke out, and she was one of almost five million people who took the tough decision to flee. She arrived with her kid Marharyta two days ago. “Coming back home before Easter was incredibly important to me,” she adds, before expressing her delight at the idea of the couple’s grandparents meeting the new member to the family. “I was desperate for us to be together. It’s a gleam of optimism that everything will turn out OK.”
Nykyforchyn, perched on the sofa in her downtown Lviv apartment, casts a glimpse over at her 27-year-old husband Nazar, who is fully focused on the small, baby daughter dozing on his lap.
“I had a really difficult time being in Poland, both physically and psychologically, due to the baby. It was very painful, even intolerable “she explains.
