Peace, shelter and hope: How a Polish-run convent in Ukraine is providing refuge to war victims

Faith in the future can be found in the village of Yazlovets on Easter Sunday as those displaced by Putin’s war gather to find comfort. Askold Krushelnycky is there to hear their stories

Sister Julia at a festival at Yazlovets convent in summer 2023 (Askold Krushelnycky)

A celebration of Easter at a Roman Catholic convent run by Polish nuns in western Ukraine, which has sheltered hundreds of Ukrainian refugees since the start of the war, has become a symbol of how the historically troubled relations between Poles and Ukrainians have been transformed.

On Easter Sunday, the church within the convent is crowded with parishioners – some of them refugees who are living here, and others from the surrounding area – for the Roman Catholic mass, said in Ukrainian by Polish and Ukrainian priests.

Among the parishioners are Roman Catholics, Ukrainian Catholics, and members of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church – most of them refugees from eastern Ukraine.