‘It gives me a lot of comfort to be here’: 2 mothers who lost sons in Ukraine join Allentown church community on 4-year anniversary of war | Allentown Area

ALLENTOWN, Pa. — As the war wages on, Tuesday marked four years since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

An estimated 1.8 million lives have been lost on both sides.

Every Tuesday for the last four years, Father Oleg Kravchenko has taken part in services to pray for an end to the war in his native country.

“We started doing them before the war began, pretty much when we understood that there was going to be something,” Kravchenko told 69 News.

Tuesday night’s service at St. Mary’s Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Allentown on the fourth anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was no different. 

“We pray for peace. We are praying to God to grant peace to Ukraine. I came from Ukraine eight years ago. There are many of my friends who are fighting, and one of my classmates was killed in the beginning of the war. One of my childhood friends was severely wounded,” Kravchenko said.

For Sandy Nawrocki of Lansdale, Montgomery County, and Dana Fancher of Hilltown, Bucks County, the gathering brought comfort.

Both women lost their sons in the war after they traveled to Ukraine to help fight for the cause.

Nawrocki’s son, Corey Nawrocki, was a retired U.S. Marine.

“He was a trained warrior. He did six tours in Iraq and two in Afghanistan,” Nawrocki said. “When he saw what was happening in Ukraine, he just felt he couldn’t stand by. He felt that he had the experience and the knowledge and that maybe he could go over to help.”

Fancher’s son, Bobby Pietrangelo, started with humanitarian work until the bombing of a maternity ward inspired him to fight on the front lines. 

“He wanted to be in the Marines and he had a kidney issue. He couldn’t join, so he went to Ukraine to fight because of what he saw was happening, and he knew the history of Ukraine and that this battle didn’t just happen,” Fancher explained.

The last time Fancher spoke to her son before his death, he told her about the Ukrainian Orthodox church he visited.

“He was proud that he did it, and he enjoyed the experience,” Fancher said. “It gives me a lot of comfort to be here and be around the Ukrainian people and to be in the church. I feel closer to him when I come.”