Ukrainian Orthodox church of St Nicholas draws attention to cost of Russia's invasion

On the lawn outside the Ukrainian Orthodox church of St Nicholas, there are now more than a hundred small crosses about the height of a small child. On each is a children's tee-shirt stained in red. They represent the children who have died in the Russian invasion.

According to the Ukrainian authorities, at least 136 children have been killed, a few more than the number of crosses at the impromptu memorial - the numbers keep rising and can't be known exactly.

"When you look at a number on a page, it's difficult to grasp the full extent of just how many lives that number represents," according to Natalie Solomko, who came up with the idea for the crosses clothed in tee-shirts.

"It was intended to provide a real human element to those numbers, and to demonstrate the uncomfortable reality that children are among the casualties of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and that the horror of what these people are going through is very real."

The rows of crosses have the same effect as the rows of graves in the war cemeteries of Flanders: they put a human dimension to cold statistics.

"Numbers on a page do not accurately reflect how many kids have actually died," the priest, Father Michael Solomko said (he is Natalie Solomko's actual father as well as the spiritual father of the Orthodox congregation in Canberra).

"I believe it's powerful because it shows children-sized shirts that's clear to see that they are child victims. They are bloodied and that shows exactly the terror that those children suffered," Father Michael said.

He said that passers-by stopped to gaze at the crosses through the railings, which are bedecked with ribbons in the the yellow and blue of the Ukrainian flag.

"They have stopped. They are paying their respects. They are photographing, and many are walking away, shaking their heads in dismay and disbelief."

He is particularly heartened by a card expressing support left near the memorial by the Svoboda Alliance of Australia and New Zealand. It is a group of people of Russian background who oppose Vladimir Putin.

The Ukrainian Orthodox priest has attended demonstrations outside the Russian and German embassies. Ukraine wants Germany to stop buying Russian oil.

There are some small signs of division in Canberra over the invasion. The Russian community was "fragile and conflicted", according to Father Alexander Morozow of the Russian Orthodox cathedral in Narrabundah.

Canberrans of Russian origin have a loyalty towards the country where many of their families still live, but some also felt the Russian invasion of Ukraine was simply wrong, the priest of the cathedral said.

"Many are proud of their Russian heritage but dismayed at what has occurred in the name of the Russian people by the leadership of the Russian nation," he said.

But there were also torn allegiances which were often stronger among older people. Some still watched and took their views from Russian television, which pumps out the Kremlin line.

In Ukraine, two-thirds of Christians are in the Eastern Orthodox Church and a third are Catholics, looking towards Rome. Orthodox Christians do not have an overall leader (as Catholics do with the Pope). The Orthodox Church, by the way, celebrates Easter a week later than western churches.

In Canberra, each Orthodox cultural community has its own separate church: Ukrainian, Serbian, Russian, Greek and Romanian.

Last Monday, a mass at the Catholic Cathedral was celebrated with the Russian Orthodox priest there.