Vatican newspaper deplores Russian invasion of Ukraine on its 4th anniversary

February 23, 2026

The Vatican newspaper decried “four years of bombs, rubble, death, pain, and oppression” as it marked the fourth anniversary of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine with a special section.

Federico Piana wrote in the introductory article:

Four years of bombs, rubble, death, pain, and oppression. The perception is that of an infinite time in which all of humanity has been trapped since that terrible February 24, 2022, the day on which the Russian invasion of Ukraine, violating respect for international law and fundamental human rights, crushed the territorial sovereignty and life of a people. And it inflicted a deep wound in the heart of a nation, a continent, and the entire world.

“Four years in which, along with missiles and drones, diplomatic hesitations have alternated, attempting to pierce the dark sky of war’s inevitability but failing even to light the faint torch of peace for a few hours,” Piana continued. “And now all the world’s attention is focused on the difficult negotiations between Ukraine, Russia, and the United States.”

Piana added:

But if the rubble has buried bodies and cities, it cannot have buried hope. That hope still lives in the eyes of every Ukrainian who knows full well that the dark and stormy night cannot last forever. What they want, however, is for the international community to hasten the coming of the day. Four years of pain may be enough.

Piana’s front-page article was followed by five articles inside the newspaper:

• Il drammatico bilancio: si stimano fino a due milioni di perdite umane (The dramatic toll: estimates indicate up to two million human lives lost) by Guglielmo Gallone
• Vite sospese, in attesa della pace (Lives suspended, waiting for peace) by Stefano Leszczynski
• A colloquio con il vescovo Maksym Ryabukha, esarca di Donetsk (A conversation with Bishop Maksym Ryabukha, Exarch of Donetsk) by Svitlana Dukhovych
• Intervista al vescovo di Kharkiv-Zaporizhia, monsignor Pavlo Goncharuk (Interview with the Bishop of Kharkiv-Zaporizhia, Bishop Pavlo Goncharuk) by Svitlana Dukhovych
• Attacchi russi senza sosta, mentre rimangono i “nodi” sul negoziato (Russian attacks continue, while the “sticky points” in the negotiations remain)

 

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Further information:

• Ucraina: Una ferita aperta nel cuore dell’Europa (L'Osservatore Romano, 2/21/26)