Faith on the Russia-Ukraine frontline

The Documentary Podcast

BBC

Society & Culture, Documentary, Personal Journals

4.3 • 2.6K Ratings

🗓️ 17 September 2025

⏱️ 28 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Tens of thousands of Ukrainian army personnel have been killed since the Russian invasion of their country. Russian casualties could be as high as 250,000. But who rallies the troops when morale crumbles and fear creeps in? How important are religion and faith in the war effort? Lucy Ash hears from two military chaplains who live alongside troops on the Ukrainian side of the trenches. Forty-four-year-old Father Dmytro has lost some f his closest friends in the war and was himself injured in a Russian attack in 2022. But this has not shaken his faith. Lucy also hears from Sister Sasha who spends two weeks each month talking and listening to frontline soldiers. And she hears from Father Dmitry Vasilkenkov, head of the Russian military chaplains, about their role in the military. Most Russian clerics are too fearful to speak to foreign media, but one priest, opposed to the war, tells Lucy that some soldiers see faith and taking communion as “some kind of magic charm” offered to troops going into battle.

Transcript

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0:00.0	BBC Sounds, music, radio, podcasts.
0:10.5	Death can come at any moment for soldiers on both sides of the Ukraine war.
0:17.1	Even before Russia's full-scale invasion, eight years of fighting in East Ukraine had already
0:23.4	claimed 14,000 lives. Now there's been some 70,000 confirmed Ukrainian army deaths, though
0:31.7	that figure is likely higher. While on the Russian side, more than 100,000 soldiers are publicly confirmed dead.
0:40.0	Again, the real toll could be as high as a quarter of a million.
0:44.6	But who rallies the troops when morale crumbles and fear creeps in?
0:51.8	I'm Lucy Ash, and you're listening to the documentary from the BBC World Service.
0:57.9	For this edition of Heart and Soul, I've been hearing from Ukraine's military chaplains,
1:03.8	supporting the men and women on the battlefield.
1:08.5	I tell them that we are fighting in just war and that it's our duty to defend our country.
1:15.4	And across the trenches, I've been finding out how Russian clerics are readying soldiers for battle
1:21.7	and promising them eternal salvation.
1:26.9	A believer is a person who is not afraid of death.
1:30.7	This is a true warrior, and the training of such warriors is primarily the responsibility of our
1:36.8	military clergy.
1:40.4	This is faith on the Russia-Ukraine frontline.
1:45.1	And just a warning, this program contains descriptions that some listeners may find upsetting.
1:54.8	Good day. Greeting from Ukraine, Lucy. A chaplain's day begins with spiritual and physical exercises.
2:07.7	I run 10 kilometers every day because you have to be healthy to help others.
2:14.3	This is a slightly breathless father, Dimitro, a bearded man with lively black eyes.
2:20.5	Ordained as an Orthodox priest in 2017, he became a chaplain in the Ukrainian army six years later.
	...

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