The historic building of Kherson which hosted the consular agency of the Kingdom of Italy (photo of Sergiusz Wasilewski).
On the streets of Kherson it is the desert. Before the war, this city in the South of Ukraine, founded in 1778, offered many architectural beauties. Next to the entrance door of one of the most beautiful and suggestive historic buildings, damaged by the bombings, A plaque recalls that, between 1906 and 1918, this building hosted the consular agency of the Kingdom of Italy lined up by Angelo Duck. Until 2022 the building was a chess circle. Today it is empty, abandoned, like most of this city, the capital of the homonymous region, overlooking the left bank of the Dnipro river. Much of the population has already gone for a long time, escaped from the massive bombings that since the beginning of the Russian invasion have targeted the city and the region. Before the war, the population of the city touched the 300 thousand inhabitants, now it is calculated that the remaining Ukrainians are just 70 thousand. At the beginning of the war, the Kherson region was occupied by the Russians. On November 11, 2022 the capital was freed from the Ukrainian forces: Then the inhabitants, who remained in the dark, without electricity, went down to the streets to celebrate.
The kids of the Catholic parish of the Sacred Heart of Kherson (photo of Sergiusz Wasilewski).
Much of the region, however, remained under Russian occupation, Moscow’s forces are in front of them, looming, beyond the river. Since the summer of 2024 Russian attacks with artillery and drones have become much more dense, pressing. Even now Kherson continues to be a target of almost daily attacks. And people continue to live in fear, insecurity, in uncertainty towards tomorrow. In Saudi Arabia the talks between the Ukrainian and the American delegation began to try to trace a road that leads to peace. The Ukrainian President Zelensky proposed a partial fire with the hope of re -tending to American aid. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio says he is optimistic about Kyiv’s proposal But, for its part, he underlines that Ukraine will necessarily have to give up part of its territories occupied by Moscow, Stating that it will be very difficult for the country to return to the borders of 2014, before Russia occupied Crimea. In the next few days there is a meeting between the US correspondent Witcoff and Vladimir Putin.
«We are all very worried about our future, because if Trump and Putin will arrive at an agreement the whole region of Cherson will end up under the control of Russia. And this will not be good for all the people who live here: I don’t think that the Russians would let us live in peace, they will be very angry with us for being opposed to their advance and for not having accepted their employment, for having helped and supporting the Ukrainian military forces. I think life will be very hard for us ». To comment is Sergiusz Wasilewski56 years old from Kerson, the city where he returned after having lived in the United States for years. Sergiusz He lives at the Catholic parish of the Sacred Heart, where he was welcomed by the parish priest, Don Maksym Padlevskyiin June 2023, after the disastrous flood caused by the outbreak of the dam of Kakhovka’s hydroelectric power plant. A humanitarian and environmental catastrophe, in a region already heavily affected by the war. Sergiusz’s house has also been inonated, but he had no serious damage. But he chose to stay in the parish, to make himself useful there.
The decoration of the altar of the church of the Sacred Heart made with the fragments of Russian bombs (photo by Sergiusz Wasilewski).
“Kherson continues to be under attack every day. The Russians bombard us and send drones constantly, so living here and going around is really very dangerous. The Russians trying to cross the river and resume our city, but to date they have not succeeded. I don’t know how many people have remained to live in Kherson, but less and less inhabitants around the streets are seen day by day. And it is for most elderly people, who do not have another place to go or have no money to go elsewhere. Here there is no work, there is nothing more, people have no more money and they need everything, food, basic necessities, from children’s diapers to electric current generators “. Wasilewksi serves at the parish, helps the parish priest, teaches English language and Polish language to the kids. Shows a photo taken by him that portrays the decoration of the altar made with the fragments of Russian bombs.
«It may seem surprising, but people continue to come to the parish, in mass, to actively participate in the life of the Church. We have not decreased the number of our parishioners, on the contrary, I would say that this has even increased compared to before. As we say in Ukraine, when you are in trouble, when you have a problem, you turn to God. Many people do not see another way of salvation and come to church. In the parish school before I had five children, now I have six. And now we even have a small choir, one of our kids plays the guitar And we animate mass with music and singing. War is war, but children need to have moments of joy, to celebrate life ».
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MW_Yvy22TPY
(Photo Ansa above: a person in front of a building destroyed by the bombings in Kherson)
