Ceding territory 'won't stop Russia,' Ukrainian bishop says as dozens die in Ternopil attack

(OSV News) -- As media reports spread that the new peace proposal for Ukraine drafted by the Trump administration could envision the country ceding territory and limiting the size of its military in exchange for security guarantees from the United States, a Ukrainian bishop said the immediate reaction of his people was that it was "fake news" and that "they could not believe it."

The news came amid weeks of horror in Ukraine territory, with the latest attack on the western Ukrainian city of Ternopil killing at least 25 people, among them three children, with over 70 injured -- 15 of them children -- in a Nov. 18-19 overnight strike by Russian forces.

Auxiliary Bishop Jan Sobilo of Kharkiv-Zaporizhzhia told OSV News Nov. 20 that the initial leaks about the possible peace plan -- coming from Western officials -- "saddened" his people.

"Imagine soldiers that fought for the freedom of their country, losing their limbs, others seeing their colleagues and brothers die at war now learning that the territory they fought for would be given out to Russia," the bishop said. "They would see it as a major blow to them and their families, especially the families that lost their sons at war."

"It would basically mean their struggle didn't make sense," Bishop Sobilo said, adding that the news caused "a major stress" in Ukrainian society, which knows that giving up territory and military capacities "won't stop Russia. On the contrary. It will regroup and attack again."

Pope Leo XIV, asked on Nov. 18 about the possibility of ceding territory to Russia to end the war, said: "This is for them to decide; Ukraine's constitution is very clear," highlighting Ukraine's independent voice.

"The problem is that there is no ceasefire," Pope Leo said. "They are not reaching a point from which they can begin a dialogue and see how to resolve this issue. Unfortunately, people are dying every day. I believe we must insist on peace, beginning with a ceasefire and then dialogue."

Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan met in Ankara a day after the pope's comments, as the Ukrainian president said he wanted to "intensify" peace negotiations.

"Bringing the end of the war closer with all our might is Ukraine's top priority," Zelenskyy said, according to the BBC.

The attack on Ternopil happened when Zelenskyy was in Turkey and targeted a residential apartment building, continuing Russia's assaults on Ukraine's civilians and its energy and transportation structures, which have intensified as winter sets in.

Marichka Ivaniv Lonchyna, archivist and researcher for the Ukrainian Catholic Archeparchy of Philadelphia, was in the village of Cherche during the Nov. 18-19 attacks. She spent the night sheltering in the corridor of her building as Russian forces struck a nearby town.

In a Nov. 19 Facebook post after the attacks, Lonchyna described experiencing a "strange cognitive dissonance" amid the strikes.

"I saw a beautiful night with gorgeous night sky," she wrote. "At the same time, all this beauty of nature and life was disturbed by sounds of missiles, drones, and the sky became red."

Lonchyna -- who urged prayers and support for Ukraine -- reflected that "every day in Ukraine, evil wants to destroy nature, animals, and people. … But then the sun rises and brings hope that good will prevail. And I really want to believe it."

Olha Zarichynska Kurey, director of development at the Ukrainian Catholic University Foundation, lost her second cousin, Petro, in the attack.

"His wife is still fighting for her life in the hospital," she told OSV News.

Zarichynska said she "could not believe" that her hometown of Ternopil "was under such a bloody Russian attack.

"We often think that western Ukraine is safe, but there is no safe place in Ukraine until Putin is stopped," she said. "Every day, so many lives are destroyed by his evil aggression."

Father Roman Demush, deputy head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church's Patriarchal Commission for Youth, wrote in a Nov. 19 Facebook post that "many families in Ternopil lost their homes, apartments, and property today. They will have nowhere to stay and nothing to eat."

In response, he said, the UGCC has opened a shelter and humanitarian aid center at its parish of St. Michael the Archangel in Ternopil.

Images shared by Father Demush in his post showed priests blessing several bodies of those slain in the Russian strike, which lay covered amid the rubble and ruins of apartment buildings, from which smoke continued to pour as rescuers searched for additional victims.

Metropolitan Archbishop Borys A. Gudziak of the Ukrainian Catholic Archeparchy of Philadelphia provided OSV News with a video filmed by Father Martin Chomiw, a Ukrainian Catholic priest serving in Ternopil, shortly after the attack.

In the two-minute clip, Father Chomiw stands before St. Michael the Archangel Church, noting the site is located not far from the building struck by Russian missiles.

Panning across the surrounding area -- which featured several apartment buildings and a few small stores -- Father Chomiw notes, "As you can see, we're standing in a residential area. There are no military bases, there's no military infrastructure, there aren't any government buildings."

Instead, said Father Chomiw, "there are only houses, apartments, supermarkets, a few shops."

He said that Russia had targeted the area with "nine missiles … blessed by Russian Orthodox priests and blessed by Patriarch Kirill himself," referencing the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, who has called Russia's war on Ukraine a "holy war" through which Russian soldiers killed in action can attain full absolution from their sins.

"Our hope is tested every day," Bishop Sobilo told OSV News. His diocese in eastern Ukraine experiences constant attacks. He said however that the hardest part is to "see the mothers who bury their young sons."

"I know mothers of boys who are now teenagers, who know that if the war prolongs, they may be sent to war," Bishop Sobilo said.

"Everyone wants the war to be over," but on just conditions, he added.

"Some mothers tell me, 'Take me to war, I can go, just spare my son because what will really break my heart is when I have to bury him.'"

Bishop Sobilo added: "On human terms, the reality we live in is hard to understand. Only Mary, the Mother of God, that stood at the foot of the cross can understand this."