“The greatest tragedy in this war is general oblivion. Obviously, remembering must be annoying for many reasons, so it is not talked about. And this silence can kill, not least for the fact that one never stops feeling the threat of weapons, the noise of mortars, the danger of mines. One feels let down”. These are the very emotional words said by monsignor Claudio Gugerotti, apostolic nuncio to Ukraine. SIR called him on the telephone the day that commemorates the start of a war in the eastern region of the country and that so far has killed 10 thousand people and driven 2 million people out of their homes. It was April 6^th 2014 and some armed protesters took hold of some state buildings in the Donetsk, Lugansk and Kharkiv regions. That marked the start of a war at the heart of the Old Continent, which has not ended yet.

Monsignor Gugerotti speaks to Europe. “If Europe thinks it will solve its problems by looking just at its domestic issues, it will not only fail to solve them but it will be crushed under external pressure. So, only a worldwide outlook can save everyone, today. There’s no such thing as ‘every man for himself’ now. There is a war just behind Europe’s corner, but Europe is too engrossed in its national problems and in the hardships of its staying together to notice. Unless international solidarity is rediscovered as a way to reinstate a scrap of common human rights, to provide a scrap of justice and fairness, not only we will not save ourselves, but we will also let other people die, then we will regret what we did not see”.