We received this message from Kharkiv-Ukraine, April 15, 2014 (Communicationes).- Despite many efforts for peace in the world, in these days peace is being trampled on by many conflicts: Syria, Venezuela, and Ukraine. This last conflict is very specific, since it is an open attack on the sovereignty of a country using deceitful methods. To the international community, Russia presents itself as a peaceful defender of the Russian minority that lives in the eastern regions of Ukraine. Meanwhile, Russia is carrying out a well-organized plan to revive the Eurasian empire. The conflict exploded in Kiev in November 2013 and has become so complex that it shifted to Crimea and caused the annexation of that peninsula to the Russian Federation. Today this conflict is developing under a new form in the principal cities of eastern Ukraine.
Amidst these events there is a community of Discalced Carmelite nuns in Pokotylivka, in the outskirts of Kharkiv. The community was founded in 1995. As the nuns state, for some time a great tension can be seen in the local population. Russian troops are stationed on the other side of the Ukrainian border – only 30 km away. And in the past few months many people from Russia have arrived in Kharkiv and its surroundings. These people are in charge of causing instability in the region and asking Russia for “peaceful†intervention.
In all this state of affairs, little can be done from a material standpoint. However, a crusade of prayer is important. The sisters make a heartfelt plea to unite spiritual forces to beg for liberty and peace and thereby obtain the longed-for dialogue and mutual respect.
The sisters are currently safe, but events develop with such speed that they do not know what tomorrow will bring.
