Halifax Ukrainian Club - Uky Club

31/08/2026

Ukraine says Russia is deliberately attacking its culture, after strikes on publishers and churches.

31/08/2026

Russia attacks Ukraine every day, killing people and destroying civilian infrastructure. It seeks to turn Ukraine into a wasteland.

The Russian army also seeks to destroy Ukrainian culture. That is why its targets are not only our homes, businesses, power plants, shopping centres, and warehouses. Ukrainian books are also its targets.

On the night of 28 August, Ukrainian publishing houses once again reported that their warehouses had been burned down, along with tens of thousands of books.

According to Ukraine’s Ministry of Culture, over the summer of 2026 alone, Russia has already destroyed more than 10 million Ukrainian books. This amounts to one-third of Ukraine’s annual book production. These include works by Ukrainian authors as well as books translated into Ukrainian from dozens of foreign languages.

Why does the Russian army destroy Ukrainian books? Because it knows that reading is the foundation of culture and meaning. Books shape our values, our ways of thinking, our cultural memory, our identity, and our sense of community. They are also a foundation of national education — and the new school year in Ukraine begins in just a few days.

Russia is waging war not only against Ukrainians. It is waging war against the very possibility of being Ukrainian. It seeks to destroy Ukrainian identity and Ukrainian self-awareness.

This has happened before, many times. For centuries, the empire killed Ukrainian writers, destroyed Ukrainian books, and sought to deny us the right to speak our own language, read our own literature, and translate works from other literatures into our own language. Russia has done — and continues to do — the same to dozens of other cultures it has subjugated.

We call on the Ukrainian state to support the publishing industry.

We call on Ukrainian citizens to buy Ukrainian books more actively.

We call on the international community to provide Ukraine with modern defensive weapons, particularly those urgently needed to protect Ukrainian skies. We also call for joint efforts to hold representatives of the Russian Federation criminally accountable for committing international crimes.

We call for more consistent engagement of international partners in providing financial and humanitarian assistance to Ukraine, including support for Ukrainian publishers and booksellers.

We ask the international community to urgently help Ukraine in its struggle for survival.

Ukraine’s struggle today is not only a struggle for independence. It is also a struggle for our culture.

It is a struggle for culture itself.

🔗 Statement by PEN Ukraine: https://pen.org.ua/en/rosiya-masovo-znyscshuye-ukrayinski-knyzhky-zayava-ukrayinskoho-pen

31/08/2026

Nearly 6,000 locations in Ukraine and 17 countries are setting Memory Tables to honor fallen defenders and keep their names and stories alive.

31/08/2026

An alleged “Eucharistic manifestation” has drawn the attention of the faithful in Guatemala, where a consecrated host reportedly remained intact inside a glass of water, bearing apparent stains of what “could be blood.”

While the event has captured the attention of the Catholic community in the country, the Church has urged the faithful to exercise “prudence and restraint.”

The Niño Dios (Child God) Cathedral of the Diocese of Santa Rosa de Lima announced in a statement that the occurrence took place on July 30 during a Mass for Eucharistic Missionary Week held at a private school in Cuilapa, a city located approximately 40 miles southeast of Guatemala City.

According to the statement, during Communion, the priest celebrating the Mass noticed that one of the young people who had received the Eucharist “was taking the sacred host out of his mouth; he quickly approached him and was able to prevent him from discarding it on the floor.”

“Following the guidelines for such cases, the priest placed the sacred host in a glass vessel containing water in the rectory chapel,” the statement explained.

The intention was for the host to dissolve naturally. However, according to the statement, “the following Thursday [Aug. 13], while cleaning the chapel, a parish volunteer noticed that the host had not dissolved and bore red stains that could be blood.”

The discovery was reported to the parish priest, who questioned and took a statement from the volunteer who had noticed the situation. Subsequently, the matter was reported to Bishop José Cayetano Parra Novo of the Diocese of Santa Rosa de Lima.

The cathedral explicitly urged the faithful to exercise “prudence and restraint.”

“Throughout history, the Church has received testimony regarding the real and substantial presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist, under this unique form of manifestation,” the cathedral noted in its statement, cautioning that such cases “have been neither common nor easy to discern; therefore, they cannot be called miracles until a full investigation, which must be carried out and will take time, is concluded.”

The cathedral also announced that the host is being reserved “in a special place and will not be on public display,” while Parra Novo is providing “guidelines for the necessary discernment and to enable a study of this possible Eucharistic manifestation” of the Real Presence.

More: https://www.ewtnnews.com/world/americas/possible-eucharistic-miracle-in-guatemala-church-urges-prudence-and-restraint

31/08/2026

31/08/2026

31/08/2026

31/08/2026

A little midweek reset is back 🌿

Adeles Yoga returns to the Crossley Gallery on Wednesday 2 September, with weekly classes from 17:45 - 18:45.

Stretch out, switch off and leave the working day behind.

Classes are £9.50, with September sessions now open to book:

www.adelesyoga.com/book-online

31/08/2026

🍂 Real Markets is returning to The Piece Hall this autumn!

Get these dates in your diary and join us for two weekends celebrating the very best independent traders.

📅 26 & 27 September
📅 24 & 25 October

Expect unique shopping, delicious food, and a fantastic atmosphere in our iconic courtyard.

More info 👉 https://ow.ly/CzqE50ZBmKS