Fr. Andrew Onuferko beheld the terrible sounds, sights and pervasive climate of fear of the Russo-Ukrainian war during his visit to Lviv, the largest city in the key Lviv Oblast region of western Ukraine.

The vicar general for the Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy of Toronto and Eastern Canada went to Ukraine to attend a meeting of the Patriarchal Commission for Clergy. On the morning of Nov. 19, they celebrated the divine liturgy, but proceedings were unsettled by loud sounds starting around the consecration.

“We heard a loud bang, and by the time communion came, we saw through the window this giant black cloud that the wind was carrying north,” said Onuferko.

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An energy facility and industrial site were targeted amid a large Russian missile and drone assault.

But the real devastation wrought upon the region that day was in Ternopil, two hours to the southeast. Thirty-eight people have been declared dead because of two attacks on residential buildings and a strike on an industrial building.

Amid the desolation carried out that night and since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022, Onuferko stated, “Ukrainians are resilient. Ukrainians are determined to not let evil stand.”

Nearly four years of evidence support Onuferko’s convictions. However, recent opinion polling of Ukrainians also strongly suggests that the people of this nation desire peace soon.

A July poll from Gallup showed that 69 per cent agreed that “Ukraine should seek to negotiate the end of the war as soon as possible,” while 24 per cent opted to continue fighting until victory. In September, the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology found that 74 per cent of Ukrainians would “accept a peace deal freezing hostilities along the current front line and backed by Western security guarantees.”

A 28-point peace plan backed by U.S. President Donald Trump has kindled an intensive series of discussions and debates over the past several weeks. American peace envoys were dispatched to both Ukraine and Russia to try and build support and identify areas where the plan could be refined.

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Mikhail Polianskii, a visiting scholar to Carleton University who specializes in Russian foreign and domestic policy, said the positive of the plans include “the United States is committing to extend to security guarantees, something that the Ukrainians have been trying to achieve for a very long time,” and the fact the hostilities would end, which would “leave Ukraine better off both in the short term and long term.”

Those two realities, Polianskii said, has compelled Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy into engaging with the plan, in addition to his statement on Nov. 21 about the difficult choice his nation needs to make “either losing dignity, or risk losing a key partner.”

As for the problems with the U.S. proposal, Polianskii said that the “ambiguous and vague language” could lead to problems arising.

“There's so much room for interpretation,” said Polianskii. “I guess it could be leveraged by Ukraine to an extent. I think, to a larger degree, given the whole package, Russia will still try to ram it and try to interpret it for its own purposes and to its own benefit.”

The past three weeks have also seen Europe and NATO weigh in on the U.S.-led peace talks while simultaneously working with Ukrainian leaders to assemble alternative peace frameworks. 

A major sticking point is land concessions. The U.S. peace proposal calls for territory to be ceded. Zelenskyy said after a meeting with European leaders in London on Dec. 8 that “we have no legal right to do so, under Ukrainian law, our constitution and international law. And we don't have any moral right either.”

Onuferko also raised that reservation.

“The Ukrainian constitution is very clear regarding its territory: it cannot be traded by any one politician,” said Onuferko. “It's not something that the constitution grants a president or parliament the power to do. The Ukrainian constitution calls for a referendum. In other words, the southern territory in Ukraine is the patrimony of the Ukrainian people, not those elected to power.”

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Zelenskyy’s team, working with Europe, is expected to transmit an alternative peace plan to the White House as early as the evening of Dec. 9.

Commenting on the present moment in time, Onuferko said, “we're Christian, and we always have hope. We're ending this year of hope, and we remain pilgrims of hope. Hope comes from the Lord. Hope comes from our deep human and Christian values and our staunch commitment, at least from the part of Ukrainians, not to give in to evil.”