Ukrainians Find 'Bit Of Peace' At Catholic Youth Festival

At a global Catholic youth festival in Lisbon, Olena Shevchuk said she is getting a welcome break from the pain of the war in her native Ukraine.

"There is music everywhere here, cafes and restaurants are open, you can go wherever you want," said the 24-year-old with a Ukrainian flag draped around her back.

That contrasts with the situation in her hometown in central Ukraine, Vinnytsia, where an 11:00 pm curfew is in place, she told AFP.

Shevchuk is part of a group of some 500 young Ukrainians who travelled to Portugal to join Pope Francis at the World Youth Day, which is actually a six-day international Catholic jamboree.

Like her, the rest of the delegation is trying to forget the war during this week of festive, cultural and spiritual events expected to draw one million people.

"We have come to find a bit of peace, to pray for peace," said Roman Demush, a priest who is one of the leaders of the delegation which arrived in Lisbon by bus.

The youths on the trip are "living in a terrible reality with daily bombings," he added, speaking in front of a church in Lisbon's hilltop Graca neighbourhood that acts as the Ukrainian delegation's headquarter at the event.

Shevchuk said during her first days outside Ukraine she was startled by the sight of planes in the sky because at home that would send her racing to a bomb shelter.

"It's very hard for us to understand it's normal life here, we can't remember when it was normal in our country," she said.

Many of the Ukrainians wear traditional embroidered shirts or carry yellow and blue Ukrainian flags, making them easily identifiable among other pilgrims.

"Everyone says hello to us, and say 'we are with you', 'we pray for you'. It is very emotional," said Shevchuk.

On her flag, a fellow pilgrim has written in a black felt pen: "France loves you!"

At a nearby stand volunteers urged passersby to use virtual reality headsets that immerse viewers in scenes of war-torn Ukraine contrasting with the festive atmosphere in Lisbon at the moment.

The 86-year-old pope met with 15 youths from the Ukrainian delegation on Thursday at the Holy See's diplomatic mission where he is staying in Lisbon.

"He listened to the stories of the families, of the massacres caused by Russia on our territory," said Demush.

"We cried together, talked, prayed and in the end we symbolically shared bread and water."

The pontiff has repeatedly called for peace in Ukraine and has sought to play a mediating role, though his efforts have yet to yield results.

He had raised the possibility of a joint meeting between young Ukrainians and Russians at the gathering in Lisbon which wraps up Sunday but nothing has come of his proposal.

Demush said such a meeting would cause "even more suffering".

"You can't make a murderer and a victim talk. Of course, young people are not guilty, but they must take a stand against the politics of their country," he said, referring to Russians.

Olena Syniuha, a 19-year-old from Lviv in western Ukraine, said it would be "strange, uncomfortable" to meet with Russians.

"Because pain lives in our hearts we don't want any kind of interaction with them," she said. "It's really painful to see what they are doing."

The vast majority of the delegation is made up of women since Ukrainian rules restrict men aged 18-60 who could be conscripted from leaving the country.

"It's very sad, of course there are many young guys who wanted to come here," said Syniuha, who wore a bracelet given to her by Spanish pilgrims.

"We feel a kind of mission that we have to be here on their behalf. We have to absorb all the support we get and give it to them," she added.