Ukraine Celebrated Christmas On Dec. 25 For The First Time, Distancing Itself From Russia

Christmas carried more than spiritual weight for many Ukrainians this year as the country newly observed it as a public holiday on Dec. 25 rather than the later date followed in Russia.

The change, enacted in legislation signed by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in July, reflects both Ukrainians’ dismay with the 22-month-old Russian invasion and their assertion of a national identity.

Ukraine is predominantly Orthodox Christian, but the faith is divided between two churches, one of which had long affiliation with the Russian Orthodox Church.

The Orthodox Church of Ukraine, which didn’t recognize the authority of the Russian church and had been regarded as schismatic, was granted full recognition in 2019 by the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, Orthodoxy’s top authority.

The Ukrainian Orthodox Church, which was a branch of the Russian church, announced in 2022 after the start of the Russia-Ukraine war that it was breaking ties with Moscow and considered itself autonomous. However, its parishes continue to follow the same liturgical calendar as the Russian church and will observe Christmas on Jan. 7.

Many Ukrainians embraced the move to celebrate Christmas on Dec. 25 with enthusiasm.

“It’s historical justice,” said Yevhen Konyk, a 44-year-old serviceman who, along with his family, participated in traditional celebrations at an open-air museum in Kyiv. “We need to move forward not only with the world but also with the traditions of our country and overcome the imperial remnants we had.”

In the village of Kryvorivnia, thousands of worshipers, many in traditional garb including the embroidered shirts called vyshyvankas, crowded the streets and streamed to the settlement’s noted elaborate wooden church.

Kryvorivnia, in the Carpathian mountains, is about 800 kilometers (500 miles) west from the frontline, but the war was on the minds of the worshipers. “People didn’t just come to observe the celebration, they came to pray,” said local priest Ivan Rybaruk, who said 16 people from the village of only 1,500 residents have died in the fighting.

“People understand that we live here as safe as it could be. Missiles don’t fly here, bombs don’t explode, but we have lost a lot of guys,” said 27-year-old Olha Mynykh, standing in front of the house of a soldier who was declared missing. “People don’t feel that kind of joy. Of course, they feel joy because of Christmas because it’s impossible not to feel the light of God in the heart. But the scale of the celebration, the nature of the celebration, has obviously changed. It’s not as joyful and full of fun as before.”

Oksana Poviakel, the director of the Pyrohiv Museum of Folk Architecture and Life of Ukraine in Kyiv, where Christmas celebrations took place, said that observing the holiday on the 25th is “another important factor of self-identification.”

“We are separating ourselves from the neighbor who is currently trying to destroy our state, who is killing our people, destroying our homes, and burning our land,” she said.

Asia Landarenko, 63, said she prays every day for her son, who is currently in the military. “The state of war affects everything, including the mood. The real celebration of Christmas will be after the victory, but as the Savior was born, so will be our victory,” she said.

BY VOLODYMYR YURCHUK

Jill Biden Pays Surprise Visit To Ukraine, Meets First Lady

UZHHOROD, Ukraine (AP) — Jill Biden made an unannounced visit to western Ukraine on Sunday, holding a surprise Mother’s Day meeting with first lady Olena Zelenska to show U.S. support for the embattled nation as Russia presses its punishing war in the eastern regions.

Biden traveled under the cloak of secrecy, becoming the latest high-profile American to enter Ukraine during its 10-week-old conflict with Russia.

“I wanted to come on Mother’s Day,” the U.S. first lady told Zelenska. “I thought it was important to show the Ukrainian people that this war has to stop and this war has been brutal and that the people of the United States stand with the people of Ukraine.”

Biden spent about two hours in Ukraine, traveling by vehicle to the town of Uzhhorod, about a 10-minute drive from a Slovakian border village where she had toured a border processing facility.

Zelenska thanked Biden for her “courageous act” and said, “We understand what it takes for the U.S. first lady to come here during a war when military actions are taking place every day, where the air sirens are happening every day -- even today.”

The two first ladies came together in a small classroom, sitting across a table from one another and greeting each other in front of reporters before they met in private. Zelenska and her children have been at an undisclosed location for their safety.

The school where they met has been turned into transitional housing for Ukrainian migrants from elsewhere in the country.

The visit allowed Biden to conduct the kind of personal diplomacy that her husband would like to be doing himself.

President Joe Biden, who took a call from his wife while she was in the motorcade after the visit to Uzhhorod, said during his visit to Poland in March that he was disappointed he could not visit Ukraine to see conditions “firsthand” but that he was not allowed, likely due to security reasons. The White House said as recently as last week that the president “would love to visit” but there were no plans for him to do so at this time.

The meeting came about after the two first ladies exchanged correspondence in recent weeks, according to U.S. officials who declined to provide further details because they were not authorized to discuss the ladies’ private communications.

As she arrived at the school, Biden, who was wearing a Mother’s Day corsage that was a gift from her husband, embraced Zelenska and presented her with a bouquet. After their private meeting, the two joined a group of children who live at the school in making tissue-paper bears to give as Mother’s Day gifts.

Biden’s visit follows recent stops in the war-torn country by U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other members of Congress, as well as a joint trip by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin to meet with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv.

Her visit was limited to western Ukraine; Russia is concentrating its military power in eastern Ukraine, and she was not in harm’s way. On the same day as Biden’s visit, a Russian bomb flattened a school in eastern Ukraine that had been sheltering about 90 people in its basement, with dozens feared dead. Also Sunday, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau visited Ukraine to meet with the president and “reaffirm Canada’s unwavering support for the Ukrainian people,” according to his office.

Earlier, in the Slovakian border village of Vysne Nemecke, she toured its border processing facility, surveying operations set up by the United Nations and other relief organizations to assist Ukrainians seeking refuge. Biden attended a religious service in a tent set up as a chapel, where a priest intoned, “We pray for the people of Ukraine.”

And before that, in Kosice, Biden met and offered support to Ukrainian mothers in Slovakia who have been displaced by Russia’s war. She assured them that the “hearts of the American people” are behind them.

At a bus station in the city that is now a 24-hour refugee processing center, Biden found herself in an extended conversation with a Ukrainian woman who said she struggles to explain the war to her three children because she cannot understand it herself.

“I cannot explain because I don’t know myself and I’m a teacher,” Victorie Kutocha, who had her arms around her 7-year-old daughter, Yulie, told Biden.

At one point, Kutocha asked, “Why?” seeming to seek an explanation for Russia’s decision to invade Ukraine on Feb. 24.

’It’s so hard to understand,” the first lady replied.

The 24-hour facility is one of six refugee centers in Slovakia, providing an average of 300 to 350 people daily with food, showers, clothing, emergency on-site accommodations and other services, according to information provided by the White House.

Biden also dropped in at a Slovakian public school that has taken in displaced students.

Slovakian and Ukrainian moms were brought together at the school for a Mother’s Day event while their children made crafts to give them as gifts.

Biden went from table to table meeting the mothers and kids. She told some of the women that she wanted to come and ” say the hearts of the American people are with the mothers of Ukraine.”

“I just wanted to come and show you our support,” she said before departing for Vysne Nemecke.

In recent weeks border crossings are averaging less than 2,000 per day, down from over 10,000 per day immediately after Russia’s invasion on Feb. 24, and a large portion of that flow is daily cross border traffic.

Biden is on a four-day visit to Eastern Europe to highlight U.S. support for Ukrainian refugees and for the allied countries such as Romania and Slovakia that are providing a safe haven for them.

She spent Friday and Saturday in Romania, visiting with U.S. troops and meeting with Ukrainian refugee mothers and children.

With her trip, the American first lady followed the path of prior sitting first ladies who also traveled to war or conflict zones.

Eleanor Roosevelt visited servicemen abroad during World War II to help boost troop morale. Pat Nixon joined President Richard Nixon on his 1969 trip to South Vietnam, becoming the first first lady to visit a combat zone, according to the National First Ladies’ Library. She flew 18 miles from Saigon in an open helicopter, accompanied by U.S. Secret Service agents.

Hillary Clinton visited a combat zone, stopping in Bosnia in 1996. Four years after the 9/11 terrorist attacks and during the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan, Laura Bush went to Kabul in 2005 and Melania Trump accompanied President Donald Trump to Iraq in December 2018.

At Ukraine's Largest Art Gallery, A Race To Protect Heritage

LVIV, Ukraine (AP) — The director of Ukraine’s largest art museum walked its hallways, supervising as staff packed away its collections to protect their national heritage in case the Russian invasion advances west.

In one partially empty gallery of the Andrey Sheptytsky National Museum, employees placed carefully wrapped baroque pieces into cardboard boxes. A few meters away, a group walked down the majestic main staircase carrying a giant piece of sacred art, the 18th century Bohorodchany iconostasis.

“Sometimes the tears are coming because a lot of labor has been put in here. It takes time, energy. You are doing something good, you feel pleased. Today you see empty walls, so it feels bitter, sad. We didn’t believe it till the last minute that this could happen,” museum General Director Ihor Kozhan said Friday.

The doors of the museum in the western city of Lviv have been closed since Russia’s war on Ukraine began on Feb. 24, and heritage sites across the country face danger as the fighting continues. Korzhan said he receives daily calls from other European cultural institutions offering to help as he and his staff race to preserve the museum’s works.

Anna Naurobska, the head of the rare manuscripts and books department, said she still doesn’t know where to safely store the collection of more than 12,000 items being packed into boxes.

The relocation process and the fear that the collection is in danger in the event of an attack on the city overwhelms her.

“This is our story; this is our life. It is very important to us,” Naurobska said.

She walked into another room and held up a massive tome, tears forming in her eyes. “It’s a Russian book,” she said, putting it back on the shelf. “I’m so angry.”

Like the museum, other sites in Lviv are rushing to protect works of artistic or cultural importance. The display cabinets at the Museum of the History of Religion are almost empty. Workers are assembling metal containers in the patio to safely store the remaining items before placing them in basements. At the Latin Cathedral, the sculptures have been covered with cardboard, foam and plastic to protect them from possible shrapnel.

Amid the bare walls and shrouded statues, Kozhan lamented the empty museum, which has survived two world wars.

“Museum has to live. People have to be there, and first of all children. They have to learn the basics of their culture,” he said

Ukraine Refugees: How To Help Those Affected By The Russian Invasion

The military conflict in Ukraine could create up to 5 million refugees. Learn how you can provide assistance and support.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine has spawned a refugee crisis that is only expected to worsen in the coming weeks. According to CBC, more than 50,000 Ukrainians have fled their homes in the two days since military attacks began, and United Nations aid agencies warn that the conflict in Ukraine could cause 5 million refugees to leave the country. Politico reports that Poland is preparing for the arrival of 1 million Ukrainians.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said that 137 people have been killed and another 316 wounded in the first days of military attacks, per the Washington Post. The US and European countries have condemned Russia's actions and agreed on a set of penalties against Russia and its leaders, including economic sanctions.

Ukraine officials have declared a national state of emergency, and citizens affected by the war will need help. We've gathered a list of organizations offering aid during this crisis. We'll update this story with more information as it becomes available.

Note: We based our list on evaluations from Charity Navigator, which rates charities based on their financial health, accountability and transparency. Charity Navigator has assigned a "Give With Confidence" designation to the organizations listed below. Before you give, here's how to vet a charity.

GlobalGiving

Global Giving has started a fundraiser to provide clean water, food and shelter to refugees in Ukraine and surrounding regions where Ukrainian refugees have fled.

Ranked 96.66 on Charity Navigator.)

Hope for Ukraine

Hope for Ukraine is accepting donations to help citizens of Ukraine with basic necessities.

(Ranked 90/100 on Charity Navigator.)

Project Hope

Project Hope is sending medicine, supplies and aid to families in Ukraine. The organization is accepting donations to help deliver those items.

(Ranked 82.09/100 on Charity Navigator.)

Save the Children

The Save the Children organization is delivering essential humanitarian aid across the globe. Donations go toward items like food, blankets and face masks.

(Ranked 91.82/100 on Charity Navigator.)

World Help

World Help is providing food, water and other necessities to families in Ukraine. It's accepting donations and notes that $35 pays for one week of food and water for one refugee.

(Ranked 82.6/100 on Charity Navigator

Source: https://www.cnet.com/

US Advises Against Travel To Ukraine, Citing Russia Threat

WASHINGTON (AP) — The State Department advised Americans on Monday to avoid travel to Ukraine because of “increased threats” from Russia amid its military buildup along the country’s border.

In its new travel advisory, the department said Americans should be “aware of reports that Russia is planning for significant military action against Ukraine” and that security could deteriorate in the country.

The State Department regularly issues travel advisories and had one in place for Ukraine already because of COVID-19. But this was unusual because of the direct warning about the massing of Russian troops along the Ukraine border, which has caused soaring tensions between Moscow and Washington in recent days.

American citizens choosing to visit the country despite the warning “should be aware that Russian military action anywhere in Ukraine would severely impact the U.S. Embassy’s ability to provide consular services, including assistance to U.S. citizens in departing Ukraine,” it said.

U.S. intelligence officials say Russia has moved 70,000 troops and is preparing for a possible invasion early next year. Moscow denies it has any plans to attack, as it did in 2014 when it annexed the Crimean Peninsula, but says it wants guarantees that Ukraine will never join NATO.