Faith on the Russia-Ukraine frontline

信仰在俄乌前线

The Documentary Podcast

2025-09-17

28 分钟
PDF

单集简介 ...

Tens of thousands of Ukrainian army personnel have been killed since the Russian invasion of their country. Russian casualties could be as high as 250,000. But who rallies the troops when morale crumbles and fear creeps in? How important are religion and faith in the war effort? Lucy Ash hears from two military chaplains who live alongside troops on the Ukrainian side of the trenches. Forty-four-year-old Father Dmytro has lost some f his closest friends in the war and was himself injured in a Russian attack in 2022. But this has not shaken his faith. Lucy also hears from Sister Sasha who spends two weeks each month talking and listening to frontline soldiers. And she hears from Father Dmitry Vasilkenkov, head of the Russian military chaplains, about their role in the military. Most Russian clerics are too fearful to speak to foreign media, but one priest, opposed to the war, tells Lucy that some soldiers see faith and taking communion as “some kind of magic charm” offered to troops going into battle.
更多

单集文稿 ...

  • This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the UK.

  • Liz went from being interested in true crime to living true crime.

  • My husband said, your dad's been killed.

  • This is Hands Tied, a true crime podcast exploring the murder of Jim Melgar.

  • I was just completely in shock.

  • Liz's father murdered.

  • And her mother found locked in a closet, her hands and feet bound.

  • I didn't feel real at all.

  • More than a decade on, she's still searching for answers.

  • We're still fighting.

  • Listen to Hands Tied on the iHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

  • Death.

  • can come at any moment for soldiers on both sides of the Ukraine war.

  • Even before Russia's full-scale invasion,

  • eight years of fighting in East Ukraine had already claimed 14,000 lives.

  • Now there's been some 70,000 confirmed Ukrainian army deaths, though that figure is likely higher.

  • while on the Russian side, more than 100,000 soldiers are publicly confirmed dead.

  • Again, the real toll could be as high as a quarter of a million.

  • But who rallies the troops when morale crumbles and fear creeps in?

  • I'm Lucy Ash, and you're listening to the documentary from the BBC World Service.