Transcarpathia, or in Ukrainian Zakarpattia, is the southwestern part of Ukraine on the border with Hungary, Slovakia, Poland, and Romania. This part of the country has changed hands a lot of times throughout the centuries. It was part of Hungary for centuries, then part of Austria, and became part of Hungary again when Austria changed into Austria-Hungary. Then between the first and second world wars, it was part of Czechoslovakia before going back to Hungary during WW2. After WW2 it became part of the Soviet Union and with the collapse of the Soviet Union, it is now a part of Ukraine. The country is called Ukraine, not The Ukraine, just Ukraine. Calling it The Ukraine is not something the people here like because that is what it was called under the Soviet Union and it wasn’t independent.

With this region changing hands so many times, especially in the last century, it is different from the rest of Ukraine. There are three languages spoken in this small region Ukrainian, Russian, and Transcarpathian which if I understand correctly is a mixture of multiple languages like Ukrainian and Hungarian. From what I was told people will usually respond with whatever language the conversation is started in. If it was started in Ukrainian it will be Ukrainian, if it was Russian then they’ll talk in Russian. Then there are some parts of Ukraine I’ve been told that they won’t respond if you talk to them in Russian and will only talk in Ukrainian like the city of Lviv in the western part of Ukraine. Whereas the capital, Kyiv, or Kiev in English, I’ve been told mostly just speaks Russian.

The people of Ukraine are primarily Eastern Orthodox but there are also a decent number of Catholics in the country and a small number of Protestants and other religions. Although like most of Europe most people only say they have a religion, usually whatever ones their parents have. A lot of people only go to church on Christmas and Easter, and the days for those are different in Eastern Orthodox. Christianity is very cultural in Ukraine. Just walking around the city we’re in, Mukachevo, I’ve seen a lot of statues of Jesus on the cross just randomly around the city.  

The people of Ukraine are very proud of their country. For the last two Sundays when some of my team and I have gone into the city center we’ve seen military bands playing out there and people crowding around holding Ukrainian flags. 

I was asked by one teenager, “Is Crimea Russian or Ukrainian?”

I responded that it was Ukrainian.

For those who don’t know Crimea is the southernmost part of Ukraine that was invaded by Russia in 2014 and they’ve controlled it since then. Even now there is hostility between the two. There has been fighting in the eastern regions of Ukraine since about the same time. 

Be praying for the people of Ukraine.

Between the news and the people here talking it sounds like the conflict is going to escalate a lot in 2022. Russia has a lot more troops on the border than it used to have. They are trying to keep Ukraine out of the European Union and out of NATO, which is the military alliance that most of Europe along with the US and Canada are part of.