Bishop Nowakowski says men and women from London will fight in Ukraine

LONDON — The leader of the Ukrainian Catholic Church in London said his services at the Ukrainian Church were packed on Sunday with young men and women seeking final prayers and pre-blessings. when they. headed to Ukraine to defend the country against Putin’s Invasion Force.

Bishop Kenneth Nowakowski said the congregation was different from a normal Sunday at church, just behind Bond Street in Central London. There were about 1,000 people at each service at 10 a.m. and noon, he said. The crowd leaned heavily towards those of a combat era. “The average age is about 37 or 38, and a large number of males,” he said.

Many congregations — up to 50 — came to him at the end of the service for prayers before they left the safety of London and headed East through Europe to face the Russian army. Nowakowski says that as a man of God, it’s hard for him to get people involved in a war there. thousands of people have diedbut he agreed to give them a blessing.

“If people asked me for spiritual guidance and a blessing for their protection, I certainly wouldn’t refuse it, but I wouldn’t encourage them to do something against their personal conscience. people and what they believe in.”

Nowakowski said he doesn’t know exactly how many people in his congregation plan to leave to join the Ukrainian Territorial Defense Forces. The people he met were only people from a single day at the church, and only those who had identified himself. He told journalists inside the church: “Very courageous among these, both men and women. “There was at least one woman who came in and said she was coming back, and that she had been in the armed forces before, and begged our blessings.”

Iryna Terletska, president of Ukrainian Women’s Organization in the UK, said people have also reached out to her NGO about going to war in Ukraine. “We were flooded with people who wanted to do something to help and that included people who wanted to go and fight,” she said.

Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said over the weekend she would support British nationals fighting in the war in Ukraine, but Terletska said London was not doing anything to make it easier for people to get there.

President Zelensky has called on potential foreign fighters to reach out to Ukrainian embassies in their countries.

Also present in the congregation at one of Sunday’s services at the Ukrainian church in London was Boris Johnson, the British prime minister, who held a private meeting with Nowakowski and other Ukrainian leaders. The bishop said they have used the audience to push for further action on sanctions, military aid, improved visas for Ukrainians to the UK and refugee status.