Faith on the Front Line: Four Years with Father Vitaliy

“We don’t fight because we hate, we fight and protect because we love”

Four years ago, MedAid International began working with De Paul International Ukraine, then led by Father Vitaliy as its Head of Operations. What followed was a collaboration that would grow far beyond logistics. This weekend, Father Vitaliy spoke on BBC Radio — a rare window into the life of a man who has moved between two worlds. The interview begins at 29:40. You can listen here.

In the first two years following the invasion, Father Vitaliy and the De Paul Ukraine team were essential to everything MedAid was doing in the northeast of the country. As fighting pushed closer to Kharkiv, the logistics of getting medical supplies from Slovakia across a war-torn border were formidable. Father Vitaliy’s team made it work.

But the work was never only about delivery. With MedAid’s support, De Paul Ukraine ran psycho-social support programmes for children in Kharkiv — children living under the sound of artillery, whose schools had become shelters and whose childhoods had been interrupted in ways that no aid shipment alone could address. We helped fund tents in the newly liberated regions of Kharkiv oblast, and contributed to the construction of air raid shelters beneath the city.

Two years ago, Father Vitaliy was conscripted into the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

He has been serving on the northeastern front line ever since — one of the most contested and dangerous stretches of the conflict. He carries his priesthood with him. MedAid has been proud to support him directly in this new chapter, providing a mobile chapel so that he can continue to minister to soldiers in the field, and an emergency medical vehicle for the unit he serves.

This weekend’s BBC interview is a rare chance to hear directly from someone living this reality. Father Vitaliy is not a spokesperson or a commentator. He is a priest, a former humanitarian director, and a soldier — a person who has spent four years at the intersection of faith, aid, and war in Ukraine. We encourage you to listen.

➡️ Listen to the BBC interview — start at 29:40

Thank You

MedAid’s work in Ukraine — and our ability to support extraordinary individuals like Father Vitaliy — depends entirely on the generosity of our donors and partners. If you would like to contribute, please visit our donations page.