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Ukraine: “Without the pope’s direct intervention, the truce would not have been possible,” archbishop says
Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk of Kyiv-Halych described Leo XIV’s role in the humanitarian crisis in Oleshky as “prophetic.” The six-day truce allowed food and medicine to be delivered and nearly 800 people to be evacuated from the Russian-occupied Ukrainian town.
THE CHURCH IN UKRAINE
Ana Paula Morales (Poli)
11/6/20264 min read
PHOTO CAPTION: Sviatoslav Shevchuk, major archbishop of Kyiv-Halych and head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church. Photo: Mykola Vasylechko / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.
VATICAN CITY — Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk of Kyiv-Halych, head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, said Pope Leo XIV’s personal intervention was decisive in securing a humanitarian truce in Oleshky, a town in southern Ukraine occupied by Russian forces and facing months of shortages of food, water, medicine and electricity.
“Without the Holy Father’s voice and direct intervention, the truce would not have been possible,” Shevchuk said in an interview released Thursday by Vatican News.
The Greek Catholic leader described as “prophetic” Leo XIV’s decision in October to personally call both Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to request a pause in hostilities that would allow humanitarian aid to enter and facilitate the safe, voluntary departure of civilians.
The call to Putin took place on October 16, while Leo XIV was still hospitalized at Rome’s Gemelli hospital. Days later, after leaving the hospital, the pontiff spoke with Zelenskyy and again raised the urgent need to find a way out for Oleshky’s residents.
According to Shevchuk, that intervention broke through what he described as a “humanitarian desert” surrounding a population virtually cut off by the war.
A town without food or escape routes
Oleshky is in the Kherson region, on the left bank of the Dnipro River, across from Ukrainian-controlled areas. Russian forces have occupied the town since the beginning of the full-scale invasion in 2022.
For months, residents faced increasingly precarious conditions. Roads were mined, infrastructure had been severely damaged, and regular deliveries of food, drinking water and medicine had become extremely difficult.
Shevchuk said that during the summer some people had even resorted to eating green leaves because of the lack of food.
“We all knew that if nothing was done, no one would survive the winter,” he explained.
The humanitarian truce began on October 27 and lasted six days. It allowed demining work, the delivery of essential supplies and the evacuation of civilians.
Reuters reported that nearly 800 people were evacuated in all. Residents were initially taken by bus and ambulance to Crimea and then separated into those who wanted to go to Russia and those who wished to return to Ukrainian-controlled territory.
Shevchuk said groups of evacuees returning to Ukraine were welcomed by Caritas after traveling through Belarus.
The operation, coordinated with the participation of Russian and Ukrainian humanitarian representatives, also involved diplomatic efforts by U.S. first lady Melania Trump. Reuters described the pause as the longest localized truce since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion.
“With even a minimum of goodwill, lives can be saved”
For Shevchuk, what happened in Oleshky shows that even amid a prolonged war, there is room for agreements capable of protecting human lives.
The archbishop expressed hope that the experience could set a precedent for future initiatives.
Leo XIV voiced a similar hope during the November 1 Angelus, calling for the cooperation that made the humanitarian operation possible to generate “new concrete initiatives for peace.”
The truce, however, had clear limitations.
Fighting continued in other parts of Ukraine and, once the pause ended, Kyiv accused Russian forces of using those days to rotate troops, reinforce defensive positions and improve logistics. Moscow did not specifically confirm those accusations; the Kremlin said military movements during a truce were not unusual.
Families separated by war
Shevchuk also warned that the consequences of war extend far beyond the front lines.
According to the major archbishop, about two-thirds of Ukrainian families are currently experiencing some form of forced separation: Many men remain at the front while women and children are in safer parts of the country or abroad.
That is compounded by a sharp drop in the birth rate.
Shevchuk said uncertainty and fear about the future are making it difficult for young couples to consider starting or expanding their families.
“The family, understood as a communion of life, is deeply wounded in Ukraine,” he explained.
He also voiced concern about children and adolescents growing up amid family absences, violence and an increasing dependence on digital tools.
He recalled a 13-year-old who confided that no one had time for him except the Church.
For Shevchuk, this phenomenon is creating what he called a generation of “social orphans”: young people who may have parents but experience loneliness, displacement or family breakdown caused by the war.
“Remaining human in inhuman circumstances”
The head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church said one of the greatest pastoral challenges is preventing society from becoming accustomed to death and violence.
He recalled his visit to Bucha following the withdrawal of Russian forces and the experience of coming face to face with bodies and mass graves.
Confronted with those scenes, he explained, religious or national differences lost all significance.
“We are all equal, all human beings,” he said.
For the archbishop, the Church’s mission amid war is precisely to create “spaces of humanity” and help people retain their capacity for compassion.
Shevchuk concluded by calling for prayer and international solidarity with Ukraine as another winter approaches, while attacks continue to affect power facilities and heating systems.
“Christian charity saves lives,” he said.
Asked when the war would end, he answered from a perspective of faith: Human beings know how to start wars, he said, but can then become their prisoners.
For Shevchuk, the experience of Oleshky offers at least a small demonstration that, even amid conflict, it is still possible to silence the guns for a few hours or days and place human life above war.
