The night train to Kyiv - stories from a pastoral visit to Quakers in Ukraine
Central European Yearly Meeting & FWCC Europe & Middle East Section pastoral visit to Ukraine – 12-17 May 2025
Immediately after the EMES Annual Meeting in May, I took the night train to Kyiv with 3 other Friends. My travelling companions were; Kasia Kaczmarkiewicz, an elder from Central European YM; Misha Elizbarashvili, a Georgian Friend who lives in Ukraine and Nadiya Spassenko, an American-Ukrainian Friend who has lived in Ukraine since the 1990s. The journey from Warsaw to Kyiv takes about 16 hours, including time to stop on the border at around midnight for about 3 hours for two sets of document checks and to change the train wheels to Soviet gauge.
The purpose of our visit was to be alongside Ukrainian Friends; to make ourselves available to them and to listen to them. Although there are only around 20 Quakers and seekers in Ukraine, there are two worship groups: the Quakers of Kyiv and Friends of Ukraine. The Quakers of Kyiv have been meeting for 7 or 8 years and Friends of Ukraine for a year or two. Both groups meet online. There are also a few individuals connected to Quakers in other ways. Since 2024 Ukraine has been a part of Central European YM and two members of this YM live in Ukraine.
It’s important to say something about language as this is something we thought a lot about during the visit. We began every meeting apologising that we didn’t speak Ukrainian and giving the option to meet in English or Russian. Most often Russian was used but we were very aware that this is the language of the occupier but without it communication would have been difficult in many of our meetings. In the end our small group operated in a lovely mixture of English, Polish, Russian and Ukrainian.
We spent 5 days in Kyiv meeting Friends online and in Nadiya’s apartment on the outskirts of Kyiv. In the middle of the week we visited Nadiya’s home in Pereyaslav, 100km south of Kyiv. She has a dream to set up Friends House Pereyaslav there one day, but for now she is the only Quaker in the town. That day we saw lots of signs of the war with Russia. Memorials to soldiers killed in the conflict and road signs on the outskirts of Kyiv painted over to confuse Russian soldiers (dating from 2022 when the Russian army surrounded parts of Kyiv).
Another reminder of being in a country at war was the regular sounding of air raid sirens – these were generally ignored by everyone during our visit, although since then the situation has got much worse and I gather the sirens are again being taken more seriously. During our visit there was a drone attack in Kyiv one night; no one was killed but I heard the siren several times during the night and saw photos of the destroyed drones on social media the next morning.
On our final day in Kyiv we held an open meeting for worship inviting everyone with a connection to Quakerism in Ukraine. Nineteen people came, nine online and ten in the room. It was a wonderful occasion and a deeply gathered meeting for worship. We are making plans to hold another online meeting for all Ukrainian Friends later in the year.
As I left Kyiv I shed a tear for a wonderful country where we had been welcomed as old friends. I knew that for most men of working age (i.e. fighting age) travelling abroad is a distant dream. I remembered our conversation with one Friend who lives in the south of Ukraine near the front; he told us he has not left his flat – other than to drink tea on his balcony – since the war began as he’s afraid of being picked up and sent to the front to fight. Thanks to the internet he is able to join Woodbrooke-EMES online worship every Friday lunchtime.
I know I’ll be back but for now please hold Friends in Ukraine, and Russia, in your thoughts and prayers and also all those who are working for a peaceful solution to this pointless war.
Michael Eccles, Executive Secretary, FWCC Europe & Middle East Section, June 2025
