In front of the difficult and troubling situation in Ukraine, on Sunday 2 March the Community of Sant'Egidio promoted in Kiev, in the church of St. Nicholas, a prayer for peace that was attended by Orthodox, Catholic and Greek-Catholic. During the crisis of the country the different Churches of Ukraine lived an important commitment to peace unanimously. The “no” to violence expressed unanimously by the Christian Churches was repeated with conviction during the prayer, which was attended among others by many young people.

More and more people in these difficult days expressed a great desire for peace. On Saturday at Maidan Square, the scene of the clashes of recent weeks in Kiev, many joined the Community of Sant'Egidio to remember the victims of the violence that hit the city. After a moment of prayer in the square, young people, adults, homeless and elderly went in silent procession along the slope of Instituska Street, where many protesters were killed, to the place where there were most numerous victims of shots fired by snipers on 20 February, where they placed flowers in front of the tombstones and the photographs that recall names and faces of the victims: a sign of memory but also of hope so that peace returns soon in Ukraine.