Saturday, October 17, 2026
At St. Vladimir’s Ukrainian Catholic Church in Hempstead last Sunday, Rev. Wasyl Hrynkiw and his congregation prayed in Ukrainian and English for freedom from the Russian invasion of their home country.
Melodic chants led by the church’s choir arose and fell in response to the liturgical prayers and readings. Journalists stood respectfully against the walls, taking photos and notes.
“A lot of reporters came to the church here during the last few days,” said Rev. Hrynkiw said in a phone interview, “because of the sudden attack on Ukraine by the Russian army and by President Putin.”
The invasion began on Thursday, Feb. 24. As of press time, the Ukrainian military has held control of all its cities. However, bombs have killed civilians and damaged structures in its capital, Kyiv, and in several other urban centers, and a 40-mile convoy of Russian tanks and vehicles is reportedly headed toward Kyiv.
Another visitor to St. Vladimir’s on Sunday was former County Executive Tom Suozzi, a Democrat who currently represents New York’s Third Congressional District and is running for New York State governor. Rev. Hrynkiw invited Suozzi to speak at the end of the 9:00 service.
“We’re trying to do what we can, politically, to help the Ukrainian people,” Suozzi said, adding that supplying money and weapons to Ukraine was “very, very important,” as was unity among political parties in Congress, among NATO and other allies, “and even some of our adversaries,” so that sanctions against Russia would be effective.
At the coffee hour in the church’s undercroft after the service, parish member Ihor Szpaczynsky grieved the young Ukrainian soldier who blew himself up along with a bridge to slow the advance of the Russian military.
“What we pray for is against terrorism, against invasions,” Szpaczynsky said, “For the sick, our country, our state, our army. We’re just asking for peace and well-being for everyone.” He considered the invasion a betrayal, especially given Putin’s mixed narrative, wherein he has called Ukrainians “brothers” who are closely related to Russia, yet has been brutally intolerant of Ukraine’s status as a sovereign nation.
Szpaczynsky also expressed uncertainty about international support for his homeland.
“Ukraine surrendered their nuclear weapons in 1991, when they got their independence,” he said. “Who’s going to help us now? Were we naive? … [Our soldiers] have been able to keep the Russians at bay, but I don’t know how much longer they can hold up.”
Another parish member, who asked only to be identified as Maria, echoed Szpaczynsky’s uncertainty.
“I’m impressed with our president,” she said, “he is standing there firmly with our people. I’m impressed with the help that is being given at the borders from the churches. Our patriarch [of the Ukrainian Catholic Church] is in Kiev, and he speaks to the people every day.” Nonetheless, she said, “I am looking at the map and how Ukraine is surrounded by Putin’s army. I am absolutely concerned whether Ukraine can hold out.”
Maria’s own parents were World War II refugees from Ukraine.
“We used to hear my mother say, ‘May you never know war,’” Maria said. “They lived to see the independence of Ukraine in 1991. I hate to say this, but I’m glad they’re not here to see what’s going on, after all they went through.”
Rev. Hrynkiw gave his assessment of what it would take to stop the invasion.
“Putin is like Hitler, like Stalin, like all those dictators,” said the priest. “He only understands diplomacy through his power, through advantage over other nations. He wants to rebuild the Russian Empire using other countries surrounding Russia as slaves, as colonies.”
For Putin to retreat, Hrynkiw said, “He has to be exhausted financially, maybe materially. If his army will be exhausted completely, no more weapons, no more fuel, no more missiles, he will stop. Otherwise, forget it.”
Hrynkiw said that Putin twists the complicated history of Ukraine, claiming that it was created in 1917 by Russian Revolution leader Vladimir Lenin. In fact, Ukraine fought Lenin for independence after the revolution, and Ukrainians mark the beginning of their nation as 988, when Vladimir (Volodomyr) the Great in Kyiv accepted Christianity and the Ukrainian Church took root.
“Putin is lying about all the actions of Western Europe, of America,” said Hrynkiw. “He puts information in the brains of his people, of his country, to make them hate the Western world.”
Hrynkiw’s mother and numerous other relatives live in the Carpathian mountains of western Ukraine. Though distanced from the worst of invasion, they are nonetheless seeing bombs threaten the historic buildings and universities of major cities near their region.
“I thank God I am here among the people of freedom,” Hrynkiw said. “Still, I am so sorry for my brothers, sisters, my relatives in Ukraine, and all Ukrainian people.”
