War and peace arbitrarily decided by US President Trump and Russian President Putin over the phone, seen through the eyes of someone who has ‘chosen’ to live in Kherson, a city in southern Ukraine cut in two by the Dnipro River and under Russian shelling for three years. Alberto Capannini, who heads Operation Dove, the nonviolent Peace Corps of the Pope John XXIII Community, shares this perspective on events with us. “This seems to be more or less Russia’s strategy, which is to wear down the opponent rather than to advance in big steps”, he says. Last year, the Ukrainian government told all families in Kherson with children under 15 to leave because it was too dangerous. And the city gradually emptied. There are no children left in Kherson. In the parish where we are staying, a grandmother arrived with her grandchild, who was only a few months old. It was an extraordinary event. I had been out of touch with children for a long time.”
For three years, the Pope John XXIII Community and many young people from Operation Dove, committed to nonviolence, decided to experience the conflict in Ukraine firsthand. “We left three days after the war broke out, and every day since then we have shared the risks and the hardships, the fears and the hopes with the local population”, he says. “The Russians have been attempting to invade, to break through the front line, every week”, says Capannini. “The city is being bombed, almost non-stop. Kherson at night is a striking sight. The city is completely shrouded in darkness. Except for the lights and the sounds of explosions. In this situation, people continue to flee. We don’t know how many are still here, probably 20 to 30,000 people have remained.”
In short, the Russian strategy, says the head of Operation Dove, is “to depopulate the city by sucking its blood drop by drop.”
For more than a year, the efforts of the Pope John XXIII Community have been taking place within the grounds of the ‘Dom Kultury’ (House of Culture) in Kherson, a listed building scarred by the bombings and reconstructed thanks to the tireless hard work of volunteers. “The site has been subject to attacks virtually every month”, says Capannini. “The last time was in December, the caretaker was inside and luckily he was saved. But a wall in the room next to the one he was sleeping in collapsed from an explosion that blew out the few remaining panes of glass and set fire to his car.” The Centre has become a meeting point for the local population, also serving as a food distribution centre, mainly thanks to the generosity of donors. “Our response to this violence is to cope with living under the weight of war as a community, remaining as close as possible to the people,” says Capannini. “When we ask them why they decided to remain, they say that it’s their home and that they have been living there for three years and are still alive. Many of them were war refugees for the first or second year, and they are well aware that refugee status can only be temporary and that at some point they will want to return home.”
Capannini describes the impact of the news reaching Kherson, a few kilometres from the front line, via international diplomatic channels describes. They range from negotiations on rare earths to phone calls between the ‘great’ leaders of the planet.
‘The message coming through is that people count for nothing. Only the powerful matter. The less powerful you are, the less you matter.
“The same thing is happening in Gaza. The same is true in Ukraine, for the rare earths. Negotiations are underway, but the people are not taken into account.” In this context, Capannini mentions a renowned phrase by Carl von Clausewitz: “War is a continuation of political intercourse, a carrying out of the same by other means.” What will be the outcome? We all hope that the gunfire will end. As to whether these deals will cure the disease of hatred is yet to be determined.” “This war, in particular, did not originate solely on financial grounds. There are deep-rooted wounds that span centuries. It is imperative to halt this cycle, lest weapons are taken up again.” Capannini refrains from making predictions, stating, “There is a tendency to approach war as if it were a horoscope. We have yet to acknowledge our inability to manage war, and that in war, there is no space for humanity. Rather than making forecasts, we should strive to ensure that, whatever the outcome, we do not sever the bond of solidarity and humanity that we have gradually constructed over the years and attempt to heal the wounds.”
“To kill a man, you don’t need to know him. But to heal the wounds of violence, you need to know many things: the people, their language, their history, their everyday life. That is why working on the healing aspect requires patience and commitment”.
“We promised to do our utmost to ensure that the trucks of food aid from Italy arrive,” said the volunteers of ‘Operation Dove’.” “The last time we distributed food parcels containing tinned food and flour was more than two months ago. There is no time to waste. Please help us keep our promise and to fundraise the €15,000 we need to ensure the arrival of the truckloads of foodstuffs and basic necessities.” For more information on the project and how you can help, click HERE.
