In this context, the Salesian missionaries have maintained a constant commitment to children and young people, ensuring access to education as an essential tool for protection and hope. Over the past four years, Salesian schools and youth centres have continued to operate, adapting to security conditions, setting up shelters and ensuring the continuity of educational programmes even during the harshest winter months.
As explained by Fr Mykhaylo Chaban, Superior of the Salesian Vice-Province of Mary Help of Christians in Greek Catholic Ukraine (UKR), ‘the aid we have received and continue to receive from all over the world gives us hope and support to face the challenges we face in times of war, especially during the cold winter. Thanks to the solidarity of thousands of people, we have light and heat to live on and many children can go to school.’
In addition to classroom work, humanitarian aid remains crucial for thousands of Ukrainian citizens. Salesian missionaries, such as Fr Oleh Ladnyuk, travel to areas near the front lines to distribute food, blankets, generators and fuel, supporting families who remain in particularly vulnerable areas. This constant presence, even in high-risk contexts, has enabled them to support communities that would otherwise have remained isolated.
‘In these four years of war, it is the youngest who have been most affected. For them, education not only imparts knowledge, but also offers stability, confidence and a future. We therefore renew our commitment to them and our appeal for peace,‘ says Fr Luis Manuel Moral, Director of Misiones Salesianas, the Salesian Mission Office in Madrid.
On this fourth anniversary of the start of the war, the work of the Salesian missionaries also reminds us that, even in the midst of devastation, solidarity, resilience and education continue to open paths of hope. Misiones Salesianas therefore strongly appeals to the international community to find lasting solutions and to renew its commitment to peace and the protection of the rights of children and young people in Ukraine.
