Fr. Paweł Rytel-Andrianik – Vatican
Last night, Kyiv experienced a very powerful attack by Russian drones and missiles. One of the missiles, just before four o’clock, hit a residential building, a ten-story block, located opposite the Dominican fathers’ monastery.
Significant damage
“As a result of the very powerful force of the explosion, most of the windows and doors in our monastery were destroyed” – Fr. Jarosław Krawiec told Vatican News in a phone conversation.
“We run the St. Thomas Aquinas Institute of Religious Sciences in Kyiv, and actually most of our lecture halls and the auditorium were damaged. The chapel also suffered, even though it is on the opposite side of the building” – adds the Dominican.
Windows and stained glass in the chapel were shattered.
We do not lose hope
As Fr. Krawiec says, the faithful and friends of the Dominican monastery gathered for Holy Mass from the morning and many stayed to help clean up the entire area after the explosion.
The community associated with the Dominican Fathers’ monastery, despite this tragedy, does not lose hope.
“Just as Christ speaks of the peace he brings in today’s Gospel, so we trust and, despite these difficult, painful experiences that we are going through – like this night – we do not lose hope for peace” – adds Fr. Jarosław Krawiec in an interview with Vatican News.
