The apostolic nuncio to Ukraine called for humanitarian efforts to focus on those areas where the Ukrainian government lacks adequate resources.
Addressing a video conference organised by the Caritas Lithuania on 20 August, Archbishop Visvaldas Kulbokas defined three areas of his work as nuncio.
Two were support for the prisoners of war, including civilians and children, deported to Russia, and the role of the Catholic Church in aiding freed prisoners and deportees returned to Ukraine, as well as men and women in liberated territories who had suffered sexual violence.
“This area is in the most acute need of the Catholic humanitarian efforts, like Caritas and their volunteers, because the Ukrainian government simply lacks adequate resources to tackle this problem," said Kulbokas, speaking from the nunciature in Kyiv. The conference followed Caritas Lithuania’s second humanitarian mission to Ukraine in July
Kulbokas identified his third area as “monitoring the field of information”.
“The Ukrainian people, traumatised by war and unceasing stress, can sometimes respond inadequately to the providers of humanitarian aid,” he said, adding that “our priority should be not to judge them, but prevent the attempts to frame such incidents as the reasons to cut the aid to Ukraine.”
The nuncio reported that around 3,000 prisoners of war, both male and female, have been released so far, by means of exchanges mediated by Turkey, Qatar, and United Arab Emirates – mediators requested by Russian negotiators. The mediating efforts of the Holy See resulted in release of ten civilians, including two priests, who returned home on 28 June.
“Russia violates the convention which forbids treating civilians as exchange objects, so strictly speaking, the number of prisoners, released via mediation of the Holy See, is zero, but it does not mean that we have to cease our efforts,” Kulbakos told The Tablet.
“All the ex-prisoners whom I have talked to said they wished they’d rather be dead [than be in prison],” he said, reporting some of their harrowing testimonies.
“People were forced to stand from morning till night, they had to eat their meals in five minutes, from the unwashed dishes, licked by dogs beforehand, the shower was provided once a week, giving just one minute per person to use it, those who asked for medical help got beating instead”, Kulbokas said.
He added that this is all he would share publicly, because other testimonies sounded like “horror films”.
None of the released prisoners were allowed the visits by the representatives of Red Cross, so Russian claims to the contrary are lies, Kulbokas stated.
The nuncio won respect among the diplomatic corps by remaining in Kyiv when the invasion began in February 2022, a decision he said depended on courage and prayer. “If we take our potential seriously, the impossible becomes possible,” he said.
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