Bishop of Worcester 'privileged' to be invited to Ukraine's National Prayer Breakfast
The 114th Bishop of Worcester, Hugh Nelson, is to visit the country this weekend for the interfaith event
The Bishop of Worcester is set to head to Ukraine this weekend to take part in an interfaith event which brings together leading figures from across the country and the world.
Ukraine's annual National Prayer Breakfast is being held on Sunday (23 August) and sees the likes of political, religious, and international leaders attend in an act of national unity and international solidarity.
Hugh Nelson, who was officially installed as the 114th Bishop of Worcester at the start of this year, is also the Bishop to the Armed Forces for the Church of England and is among those to have been invited to it.
"It's an enormous privilege to have been invited to join them," he said.
"I think I'm going to represent the people of Worcester, but more than that, the Church of England, I'll be taking a message from the Archbishop of Canterbury and I think I also go representing the people of the nation.
"I've been really struck over the last four-and-a-half-years how consistent the support from the British people for the people of Ukraine has been, so I'm going, but I'm also carrying with me the Church of England and I think the wider communities that we all belong to and live in."
The event will also mark the 35th anniversary of Ukraine’s independence from the former Soviet Union, which is officially recognised through the Independence Day of Ukraine on the 24 August.
Bishop Nelson said it's the first time he has visited the country and he's planning to hear and speak to people on the ground who have been directly impacted by the current conflict there, which has been ongoing since Russia launched a full-scale invasion in February 2022.
"I do want to go and say to people we see you, we see the suffering that you're going through," he said.
"We can't stand with you literally, but we want to show you our care and our support.
"I'll also be saying and reminding the people of Ukraine that as we stand with them, we also pray for peace, and that we want this to end as we know they want this to end with a just and fair peace."
The National Prayer Breakfast will be held in Kyiv.