In Toulouse, a note of hope is heard in the Ukrainian anthem whose notes escape from the Basilica of Saint Sernin these last days, for the midday mass. The carillonneur Maël Prudhom, originally from Kiev, the capital twinned with the Pink City, and today taken over by the Russian army, decided to play the anthem of his country within the framework of a national appeal that he threw at cathedrals to support Ukraine.
An idea that delighted the priest Bogdan Velyanyk, also from this country bordering Russia. “I was all the more touched that this initiative did not come directly from me and that it was approved by the faithful,” confides the 42-year-old man.
Arrived in Toulouse twenty years ago for seminary studies, he took up this post last September. “There were a lot of priests in Ukraine unlike here, so I decided to stay. »
A call to the cathedrals of France
The abbot has been concerned since Russian President Vladimir Putin launched an assault on his native country a week ago. “My mother and childhood friends live in western Ukraine. Today, they are bombarded to the point of wondering at every moment if they will survive another day” says Bogdan Velyanyk.
Despite the message of peace he wanted to send to his country, he has no illusions about the intentions of the Russian president, when the latter’s troops launched an assault on Friday on the largest nuclear power plant in Russia. Europe, at Enerhodar. “The problem with dictators is that you never know what their plans are. The supreme folly was to attack the atomic power station in Zaporizhia. She was on fire, do they realize that radioactivity knows no borders? That they endanger the whole world? “.
While several candidates for the presidential election have expressed their opposition to the sending of defensive weapons by the European Union to the Ukrainians, fearing that this will aggravate the conflict and harm the negotiations, the prelate wishes to draw a parallel with a previous historical conflict.
“Nearly 80 years ago, we remained passive when Poland was invaded by Germany and the Soviets, we let a people die so as not to risk being implicated. Solidarity must be real today. The risk is that we pay for it later with the lives of our fellow citizens. Inaction always costs too much. »
Finally, the father wishes to address the Russian people. “I would like to tell them that no one wants to harm them. I beg them to wake up and say this is not their war. The carillonneur launched an appeal to his counterparts from other cathedrals in France so that symbolically, solidarity resounds in the churches of France.