“Prayers are no longer enough”: this is how the commander of the 36th brigade addressed the pontiff, describing the inhuman conditions on the battlefield and in the bunkers
Major Sergiy Volyna, commander of the 36th brigade of the Ukrainian Marines, besieged in Mariupol, wrote a letter to Pope Francis asking to intervene “to save the exhausted civilian population in the city”. «His Holiness, Pope Francis! I turn to you for help: the time has come when only prayers are no longer enough. Help save them. Bring the truth to the world, help evacuate people and save their lives from the hands of Satan, who wants to burn all living beings. ”
In the letter the commander tells about the conditions on the battlefield and in the bunkers. «I am not Catholic, I am Orthodox – writes Major Sergiy Volyna – I believe in God and I know that light always conquers darkness. I have fought for more than 50 days in complete encirclement, and all I have time for is a fierce battle for every meter of the besieged city. I am a warrior, an officer who has sworn allegiance to his country. And I’m ready to fight to the end. Despite the overwhelming strength of the enemy, despite the inhuman conditions on the battlefield, the constant artillery fire and rocket fire, the lack of water, food and medicine ». And he adds: «You have probably seen a lot in his life. But I’m sure he has never seen this happening in Mariupol. Because that’s what hell on earth looks like. I have little time to describe all the horrors I see here every day. In the factory, women with children and babies live in bunkers. In hunger and cold. Every day under the target of enemy planes. The wounded die every day because there are no medicines, water, food ».
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