Ukrainian LI Pastor: 'The World Is Never Going To Be The Same'

RIVERHEAD, NY — As news broke early Thursday that Russia had declared war, invading the Ukraine with explosions reported, the local Ukrainian community in Riverhead was left reeling.

The Rev. Bohdan Hedz of the St. John the Baptist Ukrainian Catholic Church in Riverhead spoke to Patch and described how he and his parishioners, who gathered for Mass Thursday morning, were feeling.

"Like every normal person, it’s a shock, there is disbelief," he said. "Now we have to do what we have to do — we have to defend ourselves. Everyone is just hanging on, preparing to fight."

Hedz said he and his parish will continue their efforts to help their friends and family back in Ukraine. "Since 2014, when the whole situation unraveled in the Ukraine, our parish has been very proactive in sending humanitarian aid."

According to CNBC, fears of a military conflict between Russia and the Ukraine have been ongoing. After Russia's annexation of Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, "pro-Russian separatists proclaimed two republics in the eastern part of the country: the Donetsk People’s Republic and the Luhansk People’s Republic — much to the Ukrainian government’s consternation," CNBC said.

President Joe Biden is set to impose greater sanctions on Russia after the attacks; the invasion has left stocks tumbling and oil prices spiking in the U.S.

Now that Russia has attacked, fears are very real for those living in Ukraine, Hedz said, adding that his congregation had sent a big shipment of humanitarian aid to eastern Ukraine two weeks ago.

"We'll see if it gets there with the routes disrupted at this point," he said.

When asked what the local community could do to help, Hedz said he and others are grateful. However, he said: "We don't know what the immediate need is. We're trying to establish that communication. The lines are kind of faulty right now."

What's always needed, he said, are medicine, including simple, over-the-counter products. The church is collecting items; financial help is also needed to send the packages overseas, he said.

His ties to Ukraine are deeply personal, Hedz said: Both his mother, and his wife's mother, father, sister and brother are living in Ukraine.

"It's frightening," he said. While his mother is on the opposite side of Ukraine, his wife's family is "basically on the front lines," he said. Thankfully, he said, while they heard the explosions, which began about 4 a.m. on Thursday, it was quiet. "They don't hear anything," he said. "They are deliberating. If it worsens, they will evacuate."

His own mother, 67, will not leave, Hedz said.

"My mom is a tough cookie, and I'm not joking," he said. While she has a visa and Hedz told her she will always have a place in the United States with him and his family, she refused. "She said 'no,'" he said. "I asked, 'What are you going to do?' She said, 'If I need to bear arms, I'm going to fight,'" he said. "She's my mother and I know her. I wouldn't expect anything less."

Hedz said, of Russian President Vladimir Putin, that his actions make no sense. "It's a sick fantasy," he said. "He's trying to rebuild some kind of myth of the Soviet Union for the country that's never going to happen."

But, Hedz said, the repercussions will reverberate worldwide. "I'm not a politician. I'm not a strategist. But there's one key player in this that's still very quiet and observing. It's China. They are watching to see how the West, how the United States, will respond."

Hedz predicted a grim reality: "This is going to have a lot of repercussions in the world. The world is not going to be the same."

He said he was incredulous that in the 21st century, the second-largest country in Europe next to Russia, with 40 million-plus residents, is under attack.

"The world is already not the same," he said.

Mass is being held daily at the church, at 820 Pond View Road, every day at 9 a.m. Donations can be sent to that address, Hedz said.

And, Hedz said, he and the parish are waiting to get the green light from Riverhead town officials about a rally he hopes to hold at Town Hall at noon Friday in support of those living in Ukraine.