A Ukrainian bishop fears the upcoming winter will be the hardest since World War II, with shortages of gas, electricity and water impacting a population hit hard by the Russian invasion.
“It will be the hardest one since World War II,” said Jan Sobiło (pictured), auxiliary bishop of the Diocese of Kharkiv-Zaporizhzhia.
“I already ordered wood from western Ukraine; it will be a very hard winter with many shortages of gas, electricity and water supplies,” the bishop told Crux.
“People are installing heating units for wood and coal; they don’t have a choice, winter is not wonderland here, and certainly it won’t be this year,” he said.
Zaporizhzhia is the location of a nuclear power plant currently occupied by the Russians.
The Russian forces and Ukrainian army accuse the each other of shelling the plant, the largest nuclear facility in Europe.
“That would be a disaster on many levels, including humanitarian, since we have so many IDPs [internally displaced people] from Mariupol and Melitopol here,” Sobiło said.
“We pray, of course, that it doesn’t happen, but we are also ready for potential evacuation, and for spending days in our basements to wait until the radioactivity goes down a bit and people are allowed to move,” he said.
It is not a common image to see a bishop in a bulletproof vest, but this is the reality of Sobiło’s current ministry. He is often visiting soldiers in hospitals and comforting people who lost their loved ones.
The bishop said during a war a priest becomes as close as a family member to his people.
“Sometimes we are like a brother, sometimes like a father, and sometimes like a son to someone. Our ministry is now very individual, so any time there is a particular need to help spiritually or materially, we go wherever we’re needed,” he said.
Although born in Poland, the bishop said he has no plans to leave Ukraine for his homeland’s safety.
“I’m not going anywhere,” he told Crux. Like all the Catholic bishops in the country, he is staying with his people.
“If our people stay, we stay. When they’re forced to go, we’ll go. If God wants us here, God will provide.”
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