Boston Catholic Church Turned ‘Wartime Depot’ Supplies Ukrainian Militias

In an effort to assist their family members, friends, and strangers overseas, parishioners of Christ the King Ukrainian Catholic Church in the Jamaica Plain neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, has turned into a makeshift wartime depot, sending medical supplies, food, and other necessities to frontline workers and militias fighting the Russian invaders in Ukraine.

In late February, Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, resulting in more than one million Ukrainians fleeing the Eastern European nation and thousands of civilians taking up arms to fight against the invading troops.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has asked for help form governments around the world, while offering a firearm to anybody who wants to help his nation fight. Zelensky is rallying the cry for borders, language, and culture. Part of that culture is the Ukrainian Catholic Church, the largest Eastern Rite Church in the world, that has more than 5.5 million members worldwide.

Some of those members at Christ the King wanted to do something “tangible,” the church’s pastor Archpriest Yaroslav Nalysnyk told the Boston Herald.

“Right now this is a question of life or death, freedom or oppression. Our nation already chose freedom. They will fight to death,” Nalysnyk added. “Power is not in the finger, but in the fist.”

Nalysnyk previously served as a military doctor in Ukraine. His 90-year-old mother remains in Ukraine.

“She was in shock, crying. Stunned. Numb,” the priest told the Herald. “But many young people in my family, the day the war started, they went to their local military bases to sign up to fight.”

In America, his congregation started an Amazon wish list within days of the fighting to send to those troops.

One volunteer named Myron Kravchuk has been organizing the drive, unpacking Amaozn boxes and then repackaging them to send to a logistics company which than transports the goods to Poland where they are delivered into Ukraine.

“This is a day and a half worth of supplies that we’ve received from the local community of Ukrainians and Americans who are supporting us,” volunteer Yuliya Pokhylko told the Boston Herald, noting now grateful they are for the support from the American people.

“It’s phenomenal,” she added. “And all of this that’s going to, you know, to save lives. It feels pretty amazing,” Kravchuck said in reference to items like walkie-talkies, medicine, clothing, and more.

A portion of that interview can be seen here:

While Ukrainian Catholics in the United States send supplies, Zelenksy met virtually with American leaders on Saturday to ask for assistance in various ways, The Daily Wire reported:

On Saturday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky met virtually with members of Congress, and reportedly asked for a no-fly zone, a supply of aircraft, and for the United States to stop purchasing oil from Russia. While a no-fly zone would amount to direct American conflict with Russia, which has been ruled out by many elected officials, a few lawmakers issued social media messages in support of either supplying aircraft or even ending the purchase of Russian oil.

The Amazon wish list for Christ the King Church can be found here.