Dr. Katherine Owens’ long career as a psychologist has afforded her opportunities to go abroad and provide post-disaster psychological support, serving among those affected by devastating earthquakes in Haiti and Somalia.

As Russian President Vladimir Putin drafts thousands of young men into his army and rattles his nuclear sabre at the West, Olena Kycha continues waving her Ukrainian flag amid the rush hour traffic at the corner of Yonge and Bloor Streets in downtown Toronto.

Religious leaders in Ukraine called for safe return of prisoners of war, civilian hostages and all those who were forcibly taken to Russia.

When Ukrainians first began arriving in Canada, 131 years ago, they weren’t recognized for who they were, instead being called “Ruthenians” or by regional terms like “Galicians” or “Bukovynians.” Lured with promises of freedom and free land, they were not always appreciated.

Ukrainians, much like Canadians, know what it’s like to contend with tough winter seasons.

Pope Francis' comments on the death of Darya Dugina, a 29-year-old commentator with a nationalist Russian TV channel, were meant to defend life and were not a political affirmation, the Vatican said.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs summoned Archbishop Visvaldas Kulbokas, Pope Francis' ambassador to Ukraine, to express disappointment about papal comments regarding the death of Darya Dugina, a 29-year-old commentator with a nationalist Russian TV channel.

Pope Francis plans to make his long-awaited visit to Ukraine before his trip to Kazakhstan in September, said Andrii Yurash, Ukraine's ambassador to the Holy See.

Prevented by war from meeting in Kyiv, 40 Ukrainian Catholic bishops from around the world met in Poland, less than 10 miles from the border with their homeland, in early July.

Seeing scenes of a war on television is one thing, "touching this reality is another," Archbishop Paul R. Gallagher, Vatican foreign minister, said in Ukraine.

Archbishop Paul R. Gallagher, the Vatican foreign minister, was set to visit Ukraine May 18-20, meeting with church and government officials, people displaced by the war and towns destroyed by Russian bombings.

St. Martin Catholic Elementary School in Edmonton has so far welcomed 39 refugee students from Ukraine over the last two plus months since Russian troops  invaded their country.

Daria Prodan has been in Canada a month since she fled Odessa, Ukraine, for Bucharest, Romania, and then made her way to a new normal in Owen Sound, Ont., but her English is great. In an interview the confident 23-year-old chooses her words carefully, but rarely hesitates — until she’s asked about the Russkiy Mir (Greater Russia) concept driving Russia’s vast army over the border and into her country.

On May 15, Toronto’s Ukrainian Catholic Church of the Holy Protection will host the Unite for Ukraine: A Musical Benefit from 7 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.

I have written that I am a man of conflicted faith. Yet though I lecture as a professor of political geography, I cannot but bear witness to Ukraine’s agony through the lens of my religion, the faith of my Ukrainian Catholic ancestors. To that I confess, wholeheartedly.