On weekends and during breaks from her sociology studies at the Ukrainian Catholic University (UCU) in Lviv, western Ukraine, student Kateryna Treidan, 18, volunteers for her country in remarkable ways.  

As the war between Ukraine and Russia enters its fourth year this week, the native of Odesa, Ukraine, has rescued cats and dogs left stranded after bombings, helped counsel traumatized soldiers returning from battle, printed parts for drones on a 3D printer, and even carried supplies to her boyfriend’s military brigade less than a mile from the war’s frontline.  

If Treidan feels afraid, she thinks to herself, “I will probably be okay,” she said, adding that she knows “Somebody’s taking care of me: God is taking care of me and my family and it calms [me] down.”  

Hoping to work as a sociologist or journalist when she finishes her degree in two years, Treidan said what she and other Ukrainian young people are going through during the war is making them stronger amid the scariness.   

As Odesa, a strategic port city on the Black Sea, has continued to face attacks from Russia, which has gained control of nearby territory, Triedan said her life is more normal in Lviv, a city of nearly 720,000, located 385 miles to the northwest, although occasional air attacks outside the city, scheduled power shutdowns and frequent memorials for fallen soldiers keep the war in students’ minds. 

The roughly 3,000 UCU students are “living in high tension,” reported Nick Koeppel, an American educator who teaches intermediate English to Treidan and about 15 other UCU students. “Some of their dads are in the army, and so it can be really stressful for them,” Koeppel, who has taught at the university either in person or remotely from Poland since 2021, told the Register.  

Now back teaching on the UCU campus, he also leads a club there that focuses on Pope St. John Paul II’s teaching on the human person, part of TOB Educators.  

“They talk about the war all the time. … I think it does affect them; the whole country is at war. There’s not like an extreme peaceful feeling that everything is okay, but they do live a normal life.” 

As Feb. 22 marks the third anniversary of the start of the war, Ukrainian students and faculty said they’re hopeful for a sustainable peace that will stop bloodshed, but they’re not willing to give up their national sovereignty, identity and culture. 

The United Nation’ Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine has identified 12,500 civilians killed in the country and some 28,400 others that have been wounded, according to Radio France International.  

On Feb. 17, Russia announced it has lost an estimated 860,000 military personnel since the 2022 start of the conflict, while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated in December that his country has lost 43,000 soldiers killed in action and that 370,000 more were wounded, according to Politico.  

Ukraine’s military stated the week of Feb. 17 that Russian forces continue to advance in the eastern region of Donetsk, according to The Associated Press.  

At the same time, U.S. and Russian leaders are meeting in Saudi Arabia to discuss an end to the war, possibly preparing for a meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, although Zelenskyy and European Union leaders have expressed fears they may be left out of negotiations.  

During wartime, Ukrainian college students are concerned about relationships and jobs, said Father Oleh Kindiy, who works part time as a UCU associate theology professor and full time as a Ukrainian Greek Catholic priest at St. Volodymyr and Olga parish in a Lviv neighborhood.  

“Younger men are just not certain what’s going to happen to them and the situation of meeting friends and creating relationships,” said Father Kindiy, whose courses include Christology, eschatology and “eco-theology.”    

“People are insecure about their lives. When I have an opportunity to baptize a child or do a wedding, I always applaud them, and I say, ‘You are courageous to live in the way that you want to live despite the fact that you are in war.’” 

Ukrainian students typically enter university at age 17 and are exempt from the country’s draft until they’re 25; those ages 18-60 mostly aren’t allowed to leave the country under martial law,  UCU leaders said. 

The Associated Press reported on Feb. 12 that Ukraine’s Defense Ministry seeks to attract men between ages 18 and 24 to military service by offering new financial and other benefits.  

Father Kindiy told the Register he’s made allowances for students who complain that power outages prevent them from reading all the course material or who request special exam arrangements because of stress over a friend entering military service. He has also seen the war motivating students to be more open and candid during class discussions, describing them as “much more mature discussions than in previous years.” 

During the war, more than 6.7 million people have been displaced within Ukraine, with 3.5 million remain internally displaced, according to the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) 

While many Ukrainians left the country because of the war and haven’t returned, other eastern Ukrainians escaping the conflict in their regions have resettled in Lviv and other western locations, said Father Kindiy, who noted that his parish lost 30% of its parishioners at the start of the war but since then more than that number of eastern and central Ukrainians have started attending the parish. 

Inaugurated in 2002 as the first Catholic university of the former Soviet Union territory, UCU has six degree-granting faculties and offers undergraduate, graduate and doctoral programs in subjects such as computer science, business, law, theology, government administration and rehabilitation medicine, according to the university’s website. 

Near UCU is the Lviv Theological Seminary of the Holy Spirit, a higher educational and formational institution of the Lviv Archeparchy of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church and the largest seminary in Ukraine with 200 seminarians, said Taras Tymo, a UCU theology professor who teaches patristics to both UCU students and seminarians.   

Tymo said has seen more students turning to Christ. “From what I feel, there are many, many people who started to pray more, to be more eager about their prayer, to be more concerned with the well-being of their loved ones,” he said. “That means being more dedicated in their spiritual life or caring for them and praying for them. And there are many … small private testimonies from people that they are praying. They are attending liturgical celebrations for the fallen heroes or praying for their life.” 

Tymo added that his own 22-year-old son put his fourth-year political science studies on hold to join the Ukrainian army, which several dozen UCU students also have done. 

Ukrainian students who aren’t serving as soldiers have mourned the loss of friends who have.  Last February, one of Treidan’s friends from Odesa died after serving in the army for three months. He was also 18, she said. “I remember the day when the funeral was — many people, all of my age,” she said. “Everybody’s crying — and just for me, he’s the symbol of my believing in myself, of my faith … and what we are going through.”  

Faith is about being realistic, standing on your feet and not being afraid talk about fears and loss, Father Kindiy tells students, noting that many also have hope for their country’s lasting peace and restoration. 

“Young people have become more courageous and patriotic, but many have experienced loss; and it’s not popular to speak about fears, which, from a Christian perspective, is not good,” he said. “It’s okay to be afraid, and that’s what I’m telling my students. It is okay. Jesus on the cross was suffering, and he would not hide his pain.” 

Photo cutlines and credits were updated after posting.