Father Petro Bokanov's phone has been ringing non-stop since five in the morning.

He takes care of weddings, baptisms, confessions in the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kyiv Patriarchate.

He has had to provide special pastoral care since Thursday.

“The mood is terrible.

The cell phone rings every two minutes.

People are crying, they are worried about their relatives because the borders are closed and there are no more air connections.

The Ukraine is surrounded, the Russians are attacking from all sides.”

Caroline O Jebens

Editor in the society department at FAZ.NET.

  • Follow I follow

Many areas in Ukraine have been attacked by Russia since Thursday morning.

According to the Russian Defense Ministry, they do not want to attack cities, but only target military infrastructure.

But that gives the Ukrainians little reason to calm down.

“Everyone was prepared for this, after all this conflict has been going on for eight years.

It was clear that it would happen at some point, but we hoped it wouldn't happen yet.

It is now.

It's a war.” For Father Bokanov it is clear: Ukraine, as it was the day before, will no longer exist.

An open wound

Those who call him are not always believing compatriots, but Ukrainians who live in Frankfurt and know him and the church.

The church is a focal point for them, but Bokanov hopes that there will be comfort elsewhere: “The consulate is working at full speed, there are hot lines to turn to.

The problem is: Those who are there don't know anymore either.” What support can he give to those who call on him?

“We are trying to set up humanitarian aid.

I can comfort them, but that's not enough, you have to provide concrete help.

Faith is dead if you do nothing!”

The operator of a Ukrainian restaurant in Frankfurt is cautious.

"I know as much as you do.

Everything is still unclear.

There is only fear, no more and no less.” He himself no longer has any relatives in Ukraine, he emigrated to Germany more than 30 years ago.

Over the years he has lost contact, and many acquaintances have died in the meantime.

Today he is only in contact with a few.

What is he hoping for in his home country in this situation?

“That this war will finally end, that there will be peace for Ukraine.

The war has been going on for eight years.

Only because there is now this right attack has the situation become topical again.

But this is a war without end."

Why, in his opinion, is the war only now being named as such?

“It is a question of global politics,

others understand this better than I do.

But Ukraine is not a subject, it is an object in this war.”

He couldn't say more about it.

"I've felt like I've been torn in two since this morning," says Katharina Martin-Virolaine.

She is an author and lives in Eppingen, Baden-Württemberg.

She was born and raised in Russia, her ancestors are from Ukraine.

She feels very connected to the country, she grew up with the Ukrainian language and culture, and she was often there before the corona pandemic.

“The conflict was always like an open wound for me.

I couldn't approve of politics and tried to hold back on these things."

Maybe also to hide them, as she says.

Since this morning she can no longer do that.

"I've been on my cell phone since five o'clock, looking at what my friends in Ukraine are uploading." Today scares her.

What exactly?

"That the hate goes both ways.

My relatives in Russia are appalled by what is happening.” She finds it terrible that Russia is now being equated with Putin.

“Politicians have always started wars.

But what if the conflict can be resolved?

The hatred between people remains.”

What does she wish for?

"What I've been wishing for since 2014: that Russians and Ukrainians no longer see each other as enemies.

That the inhabitants of both countries do not get infected by politics.

And I hope that people will differentiate – it hurts to call Russians Nazis.” The thirty-five-year-old is happy to be able to follow her Ukrainian friends at least on the internet.

On the other hand, the videos from there only show her the powerlessness that uncertainty causes.

“I don't even want to imagine what considerations they have to make.

This uncertainty is like a nightmare.” One can only wait and hope that it will be over soon.