Author: Laurent Tran Van Mang

It was with great sorrow that we received the news on Saturday 15 March that our friend Oleksij Savkevich had died on the front line on Tuesday 11 March. He had decided in September 2024 to join the Ukrainian army to defend his country from Russian aggression. His unit was defending the territories of south-eastern Ukraine.

The leaders of the association ‘Ad Pacem servandam – For Peace and Against War’ had been friends with Oleksij’s family since aid had been organised in 2019 to support a project in Avdiivka, where Oleksij had been living since leaving Donetsk, where he had studied at university. He was a political scientist by training. After the Russian army occupied Donetsk in 2015, Oleksij and his wife founded a patriotic youth movement in Avdiivka. They had also organised a Ukrainian Festival in the same city on several occasions. The last time was in 2021, before the city was completely destroyed and occupied by the Russian army.

For his visit in 2019, we organised a charity concert at the church of Notre-Dame in Villerupt (France) to finance musical instruments for the youth group that Oleksij had formed and which was going to perform at the music festival in Avdiivka.

On the same occasion, he had visited classes at the Lycée de Garçons in Esch-sur-Alzette (L) where he had given a testimony on how his country had been invaded by the Russian army since 2014 and the consequences this had for Ukrainians.

He gave interviews to Luxemburger Wort, tageblatt and Radio Jéricho in Metz.

Our Ad Pacem committee extends its sincere condolences to his wife Svitlana, his children Danil and Marijka and his entire family.

With the money raised at the Christmas market in Differdange in December 2024, the association Ad Pacem bought two large solid wood cupboards for the women’s and children’s refuge centre in Ivano-Frankivsk, as well as basic food items. The management of the refuge and all its residents express their sincere gratitude for the help provided.

The association Ad Pacem used the funds raised at the Differdange (L) Christmas market in December 2024  to buy school stationery and craft materials for the Bereginya children’s club in Kropyvnytskyi. This group brings together children displaced from the occupied territories of the Donetsk region by the Russian army. The school teachers, 90% of whom are themselves displaced persons, try to help the children overcome the negative effects of the traumatic events they have experienced. They help them adapt to the new circumstances of their lives through art therapy and various handicrafts based on the folk traditions and artistic culture of the Ukrainian people.

Children from the Greek-Catholic parish in Berezhany (Western Ukraine) helped to make the decorations that were sold at the Christmas Market in Differdange (L) from 29 November to 22 December 2024. Many of them are internal refugees from territories at war or occupied by Russia in the east and south of the country.

On 6 January, the Ad Pacem association sent them sweets as presents.

Children from the Greek-Catholic parish in Berezhany (Western Ukraine) helped to make the decorations that were sold at the Christmas Market in Differdange (L) from 29 November to 22 December 2024. Many of them are internal refugees from territories at war or occupied by Russia in the east and south of the country.

On 6 January, the Ad Pacem association sent them sweets as presents.

The Ad Pacem association bought 100 kg of paraffin in  Ukraine for the school in Kropyvnyckyj (western Ukraine). The school’s pupils used the paraffin to make candles that were sent to the front where they are used by soldiers in the trenches. The majority of these pupils are internal refugees from Kramatorsk, a town in the east of the country close to the front line.

A concertino has been organised by the Ad Pacem association in Italy in the town of Pergola (Province of Pesaro Urbino). Laura and Daniel Pantaleoni interpreted a number of classical and romantic works. Donations raised went towards the purchase of medicines for the psychiatric hospital in Vorzel, near Kyiv.

A concertino has been organised by the Ad Pacem association in Italy in the town of Serra Sant Abbondio (Province of Pesaro Urbino). Laura, Daniel and Michel Pantaleoni interpreted a number of classical and romantic works. Donations raised went towards the purchase of medicines for the psychiatric hospital in Vorzel, near Kyiv.