A Catholic charity, Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) announced that it would fund the restoration of a Ukrainian seminary looted by Russian forces.
ACN said on 9 May that it planned to cover the costs of building repairs and replacing stolen furniture and equipment at the Catholic seminary in Vorzel, 18 miles from the capital Kyiv.
The Major Theological Seminary of the Sacred Heart of Jesus will reopen in September, seven months after 25 seminarians were forced to flee the Russian advance in northern Ukraine with the help of the organization.
ACN made the announcement after representatives visited the seminary in the Latin Rite Diocese of Kyiv-Zhytomyr and met with its rector Father Ruslan Mikhalkiv.
“They took everything they could. Kitchen utensils, washing machines, computers, and air conditioners. The seminarians’ rooms were ransacked and they took liturgical items, including a chalice donated by St. John Paul II when he visited Ukraine in 2001,” Mikhalkiv said.
Priests and students evacuated the seminary after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine on 24 February. They found refuge in a neighboring diocese.
Russian troops are believed to have looted the seminary in mid-March. According to local witnesses, the soldiers spent two nights at the site.