Black cassock, gold cross with red stones in hand, an orthodox priest, Pope Taras, prays in front of two 4×4 cars driving in front. “We first pray to God that he protects the people who will drive in this car, that is, our soldiers, so that their guardian angel is with them.” There, in Lviv in western Ukraine, the ritual is the same at every departure: The Man of the Church rains holy water on the hood and then into the passenger compartment. He has already blessed fifty vehicles. “This car can save soldiers’ lives,” he adds. We can quickly evacuate the wounded from this type of car, conventional ambulances do not arrive at places where people die: you must have a 4×4!”
Pope Taras prays to bless the car used by the soldiers. (Julie Pietri / Radio France)
Five months after the start of the Russian offensive in Ukraine, international opinion is beginning to feel a bit tired. But the war rages on, and the Ukrainian population continues to collect things that are supposed to help the soldiers at the front: food, money, but also vehicles. In Lviv, a group of civilians coordinated by the city’s National Philharmonic Orchestra are overseeing the importation of all-terrain vehicles, which are blessed before they leave for the front lines.
The ritual is the same every time the car pulls away: the man of the church rains holy water on the hood and then into the passenger compartment. He has already blessed fifty vehicles. “This car can save soldiers’ lives,” he adds. We can quickly evacuate the wounded from this type of car, conventional ambulances do not arrive at places where people die: you must have a 4×4!”
We act under the protection of divine power!
The driver of the vehicle is called Bogdan: “We are all Christians, all believers. This ceremony is like an act of protection: the divine power helps us.” But he laughs a little in front of the car, green, English, with the steering wheel on the right: “The cars that come here are mainly from Great Britain: you can find them no more in countries near Ukraine that are gone -hand drive cars have already been bought so right hand drive cars are going ahead now.”
Bodgan will drive the now blessed car to the Donbass. The vehicle’s steering wheel is on the right-hand side. (Julie Pietri / Radio France)
Now drive this blessed car to a unit in Bakhmout in Donbass. Provisions, food, floor mats, bulletproof vests on board. “Everything the boys, he said, need at the front.”