This week, Ukraine marked 35 years of its independence, the fifth Independence Day since the Russian invasion. Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church spent the night in an air-raid shelter.
He told Vatican News that “unfortunately the number of drones and missiles being launched over our heads is increasing. Lately, each month has become bloodier than the one before.” The United Nations monitoring mission recorded July as the bloodiest month the war has seen since March 2022. In July, 437 civilians were killed and 2,610 were wounded. It was the highest number of children killed or wounded since April 2022.
