Two Ukrainian priests who were arrested by Russian troops last year are still missing, according to the Pontifical charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN).

Until November 2022, several Catholic parishes and a Redemptorist monastery were still operating in the occupied territories, but in mid-November two Redemptorist Fathers, Fr Ivan Levitskyi C.SS.R. and Fr Bohdan Heleta C.SS.R., one of whom suffers from a severe form of diabetes, were arrested by Russian troops and are still being held at an unknown location.

“Despite prayers, protests, and efforts by the Catholic Church to contact those responsible, to find out the situation of the priests, there is still no news of the priests to this day”, says the auxiliary bishop Maksym Ryabukha.

The bishop requested that ACN continue to ask all benefactors and friends to pray for the speedy release of Father Ivan Levitskyi and Father Bohdan Heleta.