“Being alive means more than just survival”
Nataliya Popovych and Kateryna Biletska are on a mission. Not just to do research for their PhD at the PThU, but to find sparks of hope and compassion for their people back home in Ukraine. Though their research is vastly different, both of them are determined to find ways for people to not just survive, but live a life of dignity. In our in-depth interview, they talk openly about their insistence on hope and sense of humanity in a time of war.
No peace without truth
“It is my hope that Ukraine will live in a just peace,” Nataliya starts. To speak of hope under these circumstances seems an act of courage in and of itself. Ukraine has been at war for nearly a decade, and since the Russian invasion in 2022 that war has displaced almost ten million Ukrainians across the country and abroad. “But as Christians,” Nataliya says, “when we talk about hope, we have to act like we believe it will be a reality. Because if we only talk facts, what kind of Christians are we?”
Her research hopes to uncover ways in which we can live a life of faith, hope and love, the same way Mary did. In Catholicism – Nataliya is a Greek-Catholic – the Mother of Jesus is often called Our Lady Queen of Peace, and Full of Grace. Nataliya hopes her research into these and other images of the Mother of God in the writings of the Church Fathers will lead to new insights on how to live Mary’s kind of life. Not just in theory, but in practice. “Pope Benedict XVI said that a just peace is rooted in truth. When we lie, we break peace with God, ourselves and our surroundings. Where we live in the light, there can be no shadow. For us, Saint Mary is the iconic figure to follow in our lives.”
Where the pain is silent
“Hundreds of thousands of people in Ukraine are in desperate need of palliative care,” Kateryna says meanwhile, with quiet urgency. “And these aren’t just numbers – they are lives overshadowed by pain, loneliness, and silence.” Even before the full-scale invasion, over 324,000 Ukrainians were living with incurable illnesses. Today, amidst massive displacement, occupied territories, and countless civilian and military injuries, no one knows how many are truly in need. The war has ravaged Ukraine’s medical infrastructure: between early 2022 and early 2025, over 300 healthcare facilities were completely destroyed and nearly 2,000 more damaged. Many of these were hospitals, clinics, maternity wards, palliative care units and hospices. While disability rates are rising, healthcare budgets are shrinking. “The situation is devastating,” Kateryna continues. “Those who remain in occupied areas or near the front lines are left without any support – not only medical, but also psychological and spiritual. Some are too sick to leave, some refuse to abandon their homes, others simply cannot afford to.” The average pension in Ukraine hovers around € 130 per month. Over three million Ukrainians survive on less than € 70. Kateryna insists that now, more than ever, Ukraine must stay focused on strengthening, expanding, and improving its system of palliative care. She warns that underfunding of healthcare, combined with the growing number of seriously ill and injured people, risks fuelling renewed pushes to legalise euthanasia. Even before Russia’s full-scale invasion, draft laws proposing euthanasia had surfaced in parliament, often citing the Netherlands as a model. Though none passed, petitions for legalisation continue to appear. Kateryna is convinced this is not the path Ukraine should follow.
Restoring hope
At the PThU, Kateryna now focuses particularly on the ethical dilemmas surrounding terminal care, including the question of euthanasia, even though that’s not the part of the Dutch model she admires. “The Netherlands has a highly developed system of palliative care. What impresses me most is how many people volunteer in hospices and nursing homes. That’s the part of the Dutch model worth learning from. In Ukraine, we often focus solely on the frontlines – but we must also turn our gaze to those who are wounded, elderly, and gravely ill. We can and should volunteer for them, just as the Dutch do. When people are in pain, abandoned, and alone, they lose their hope for the future. It is our shared responsibility – as theologians, chaplains, healthcare professionals, and simply as Christians – to restore that hope.”
“Thanks to our soldiers defending Ukraine on the frontline, we keep on living and fighting for freedom of our country in the rear.”
A call to awaken compassion
“There are too few volunteers in Ukraine’s hospices and palliative units,” Kateryna says plainly. “Not just because people are scarce – but because the problem itself is invisible to most. I want to change that.” Nataliya nods in agreement. “We both want to reawaken the human sense of compassion,” she says. “War frightens people. It becomes easy to say, ‘this isn’t my concern; I just need to keep myself and my family alive.’ But it’s much harder – and more necessary – to say, ‘I will help someone else.’” What both women insist on is this: being alive must mean more than mere survival. It must mean living in the truest, fullest sense. “Ukraine must go on living,” says Nataliya. “Being alive and staying alive means right values, values of truth, are followed all over the world, not only in Ukraine. We firmly believe and deeply hope that through our unity, mutual support, and the steadfast help and support of the democratic and compassionate world, Ukraine will win this imperialistic and aggressive war launched by Russia in 2014 with the annexation of the Ukrainian Crimea and the occupation of the Ukrainian Donbas, followed by the cruel full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. People are trying to maintain a normal life – a full life. And that includes hope. That includes helping.”
