and not very traditional carols, trips to the christmas cities of our country, very special guests and extremely warm conversations. december 24, let's celebrate christmas together with espresso. what issue will be decided in the referendum in moldova and why celebrating christmas on december 25 is a historic step? not only the news team will tell about it. good evening, anayeva melnyk is with you and for your attention the results of today's day. three more ukrainian children were returned from the occupied territories of the organization. in total, during the 14th mission

, the team saved 14 little ukrainians, former children's shoemaker mykola kuleba said. this time , eight-year-old elisey was returned home, after the death of his grandmother, the occupiers took him from kherson oblast to russia, despite the fact that his mother tried to return the son to odessa. two 18-year-old brothers of orphans, andrii and mykhailo, were also taken out of the occupation. now all three already. 226 children have been safely returned to ukraine by the seyfekrain team. the world is sliding into an authoritarian era, so the west cannot afford to lose a full-scale war between russia and ukraine, so it must to provide it with everything necessary, - said the minister of defense of great britain grand shaps. he emphasized that european countries should realize that helping ukraine is not charity. in this way, they

provide for themselves. according to the government official, countries should also review their defense budgets, because you can't save on security. shaps called insufficient defense spending in britain itself. the referendum on moldova's accession to the european union was announced by the country's president mayasandu. she stated this in an address on the occasion of three years tenure. sandu reminded that the leaders. the eu recently approved the decision to start accession negotiations with moldova. so now the final point on this path should be put by the citizens of the country. the president called on the parliament to initiate a referendum next autumn . she also asked the people of moldova for support in her candidacy for the 2024 elections , so that she could complete the mission of european integration. the light is getting

stronger, so the darkness is bound to lose. volodymyr zelenskyy congratulated ukrainians from christmas the president emphasized that for the second year we are celebrating the holiday in conditions of full-scale war, but for the first time together with the entire christian world. it is clear that our defenders received the greatest words of thanks precisely because of the victory in which we celebrate ukrainian christmas. every day we pray for each of them, we pray for the end of the war, we pray for victory, will we do it today, wherever we are, wherever we celebrate christmas? today, all ukrainians are together, we all welcome christmas together on one date, as one big family, as one nation, as one single country. the majority of ukrainians... will celebrate christmas for the first time on

december 25, according to opinion polls. as for the date of christmas itself, discussions raged for years, and only in the second year of the full-scale war did the churches reach a common decision. natalya starapravo will tell how they decided to take this historic step. this year, believers of the orthodox church of ukraine and the ukrainian greek catholic church jointly celebrate christmas on december 25 for the first time. a few more years therefore... the question of transition to a new calendar remained at the level of discussions. this year, this is a decisive step not only of a socio-religious nature, but also of a geopolitical nature, because it means a final divorce from the moscow church.

there are several reasons why ukrainian churches decided to leave the julian calendar, firstly, it is astronomically inaccurate, the earth. revolves around the sun 12 minutes slower than the ancient romans thought, so in 1500 years the julian calendar has fallen behind by 10 days. concerned about this, the pope gregory 13 decided to reform the calendar in 1582. therefore, from october 4 , the 15th came immediately, and the new julian calendar was accordingly called the gregorian. before the bolshevik coup, the russian empire followed the julian calendar. at a time when all of europe had already switched to the gregorian, as well as the ukrainian people's republic. russia did not take such a step due to religious and ideological reasons. and the orthodox church, which at that time remained the only orthodox denomination in ukraine, also adhered only to the julian

calendar and it turned out that society had already switched to a new style a long time ago, and the church stuck to the old one. therefore, the julian calendar is currently delayed by 13 days. since 2014, ukrainian churchmen began to actively talk about switching to a new calendar. so, in 2017, the verkhovna rada added a non-working day on december 25 for those ukrainians who celebrate christmas according to the gregorian calendar. in december 2020 , metropolitan epiphany of kyiv noted that the orthodox church of ukraine will switch to the new calendar only when the faithful themselves are ready for it are ready shortly after this statement. svyatoslav noted that the ukrainian greek catholic church will switch to the new calendar only from the orthodox church of ukraine. christmas should be celebrated together, together with one's parish, together with one's church, because christmas

is not a private event, it is very personal, although it has a personal dimension, christmas is a holiday for the whole nation. full-scale war of russia against ukraine. accelerated transformations in society, so the issue of transition to a new calendar acquired national and political features, as another way to get rid of the russian fraternal myth. therefore, from 2022 and until now, many religious communities are transferring from the moscow patriarchate to the orthodox church of ukraine. the transition to the new julian calendar was announced at the synod of the ukrainian greek catholic church in february 2023. the orthodox church of ukraine started talking about it in may, but the final decision was made at the local council already in july. therefore, the transition to the new calendar became the decisive step that had not been taken for decades. in general, the majority of ukrainians

support the transition to novylyansk calendar. according to the opinion poll of the razumkov center, more than 80% of greek catholics and more than 60% of orthodox are positive. but they treat it, the statistics are somewhat smaller in the eastern and southern regions of ukraine, however, even there more than half treat it well, and even the parishioners of the poskovo patriarchate are also preparing to switch to the new julian calendar, although this share is somewhat smaller. april 25 or january 7? no, january 7. and why, why doesn't it go to 25? well, because that's how my parents celebrated, that's how my great-grandfathers celebrated. grandparents and i celebrate like this now we will celebrate twice, because the children want this year, and we, our generation , will still get used to it, i think that it will change someday, but it will take time,

there should be one holiday, so december 25, every second no, it's about christmas. the transition to the new calendar this year is not yet mandatory. the ukrainian greek catholic church has given time for adaptation until 2025. the orthodox church of ukraine did not set time limits. instead, it is known that 120 orthodox parishes out of 85 remained on julian calendar. one such community is known in lviv. well, holiday services with the participation of the heads of the greek catholic and orthodox churches from will be on december 25. despite russia's full-scale war against ukraine, our military also celebrates christmas on the front lines. and for the second year in a row , they do it on december 25. the day before, our soldiers recorded a touching video where they reminded that the transition to the new church calendar is

the right choice. this is really powerful stuff. such was the day in the presentation of the news team, you can read more about the current events on our website espresso tv, also subscribe to our channels on social networks, stay close, everyone have a cozy evening and bright thoughts.

christmas day is coming, i will go out into the streets of my city, i will look people in the eyes, i will ask what they want, and my soul becomes so tight, tight, where is compassion, there is no more remorse , we are selling thoughts... and one question pops up, what still gives hope, but why do we have to live like this, and

i so want to forget the fear before christmas, and i so want to hear a song on my lips so that the child smiled so that... goodness and love returned from nothingness, and i so want to change the world on the eve of christmas, and i so want to stop happiness and peace, so that the whites, fear and sadness disappear, so that there is no darkness, the thought was only the world, in which god was born.

christmas day ahead. "i will light a candle , let it burn, let it burn, from discord and trouble, from misfortune and sorrow, let the fire of our hearts, cleanse us, let the soul be warmed, let it ring, let it go to every house , maybe not everything is as it should be. god from heaven, let love be, we are

rich, and i so want to forget the day before christmas fear, and i so want to hear a song on my lips, so that the child smiles, so that goodness and love return from nothingness. and i so want to change the world ahead on christmas day, and i so want to stop happiness for a moment, so that the whites, fear and sadness disappear, so that it does not become dark, the only thought was the world in which god was born. so that pain

and fear and sleep would disappear, so that there would be no more dark thoughts, there would only be a world in which god was born, oh, and you are already here, come, enter the all-honorable society to our festive abode. today we welcome you to the incredible cossack church of the holy trinity. you see, we have christmas here voluntarily, oh, you ask me what it means, this is what i will tell you, well, for starters , christmas is not only about fun, a feast or some big celebration, christmas is about much more, because the first star shone and the son of god came down from heaven to us to change

the world, christmas is about giving. share, help each other. christmas is about sincerity, goodness, about being real. and what about volunteering? well, because, well, actually, among all my friends, volunteers, probably every first, now, even on christmas eve, gets into cars and drives to the north, south, and east of our ukraine, and takes help to our defenders. starting with sausage and spit, from... which bring warmth to the house and ending with copters, rangefinders, thermal imagers, various batteries and the same machines that are needed every day in huge quantities to maintain the defense of our country, so today i have good ukrainian for you christmas, and our

volunteers tell stories about the real thing. the eternal god was born, came today. from heaven to save all his people, and comforted, came today from heaven to save

all his people, and uti. our messiah christ and the virgin was born in all of bethlehem. even for all of us, to us , the messiah, our christ, and our lord, for all of us, was born to us. the three kings

are carrying gifts to the city of bethlehem, where the pure virgin has given birth to a son. to the spring of the city, where the virgin gave birth to a pure son.

glory to god, let's sing, honor to the son of god, and to our lord, let's bow down. glory to the son of god and our lord. let 's salute, salute, salute, salute,

taras gren, officer of the armed forces of ukraine. military journalist and photographer. since 1994 , a correspondent of the newspaper of the western operational command of the army of ukraine, served in military service in various positions in military press units, and later joined the ranks of the armed forces in 2014. when the maidan began, even earlier, i was one of such a military journalistic team that predicted the invasion of russia even before we did... but simply based on information leaks, on information work, that russia is very strongly pursuing an aggressive policy and staying in the city to its citizens. today, the military profession

journalist is extremely important, because thanks to her representatives, we learn quickly and verified information from the front. i have served in the army since the very beginning of the creation of the ukrainian state, and here it would be better to say that i was motivated not to leave the army, because... ukrainian society, frankly speaking, until 2014, was wiping its feet with its army, simply wiping its feet, nobody cared about the problems of the army didn't pay attention taras gren brought unique artifacts collected by his colleagues at various points of hostilities. the journalist accumulated them in order to transfer them to a museum or to scientific library so that future historians study the history of the war on the basis of these documents. now with my new place of service in the military. clinical center, i see guys who with their health, themselves , in fact with themselves, closed us from this russian scourge, you know, i have no

moral right to stop in front of them, i have to show and explain to people that war is not so far away from u.s. according to a military journalist, during the great war, the structure of weapons and the strength of the armed forces of ukraine changed significantly, and this is precisely will allow the ukrainian army to fight... the country, they were able to switch to the training of both non-commissioned officers and to open many more such faculties where retraining and improvement of knowledge was carried out, which made it possible to quickly switch to new types of weapons, this is what the russians did not could understand in the 22nd year how ukrainians can so quickly master the samples of weapons that come to them. taras hryn believes that our victory is possible thanks to the cooperation of the army, civilians and authorities. we must... get used to the fact that we are members of a great, beautiful, strong, ukrainian people, and our state is our state, not someone else's state

, we rule here, we dispose of our taxes that we paid, and the money that we earn, and our freedom, where we will live, we have to understand it, what kind of... wonder in the world is the news, then maria gave birth to a son. and when she gave birth, she laid

a pure virgin in the manger, and when she... she gave birth, she laid in the manger, a pure virgin, and joseph is an old man, standing above the manger, to jesus christ. ok, the summit is closing, and maria

swaddles, hugs to the heart, sleep, jesus, my son. and mary swaddles her, holds her close to her heart, sleep, jesus, my son, oh, the triplets were coming. with gifts, and behind them

from a star, with shells, a virot came out, tai asks, tai invites to his place, where are you going, a virot came out, and asks, and invites to him, where. and you go, what

are we doing, there is news in the world, then... miraculous mary gave birth to a son.

stepan barna, currently a sergeant of the 10th separate edelweiss mountain assault brigade, and until 2023 ukrainians knew him as a people's deputy, ex-head of the ternopil regional state administration, philanthropist, entrepreneur and scientist. now, instead of a high position, he holds the title of defender of ukraine. recalling the past, stepan says that being a politician is not a choice, a vocation, but now he calls military service his duty. i was aware that there would be a war. er, all the time i was convinced that this war with russia would be full-scale, i did not believe that russia would calmly put up with the existence of a ukrainian state. 10 years ago, when the first shots rang out in the east of ukraine, stepan barna was engaged in politics at the same time actively helping the front. he says that he always understood that the priority for the development of ukraine is a strong army. it was then, in the 14th year

, that brother oleg barna went to fight as a good man, instead stepan became a reservist. it was during the formation of the brigade itself so that, while still in the status of the head of the regional state administration, i tried to popularize the service in the reserve. and after he left the post of chairman, he went to a meeting of reservists and there signed the contract of the operational reserve of the first line with the edelweiss brigade. and accordingly, when... the war began , a full-scale attack, there was a presidential decree on the mobilization of reservists, well, he was mobilized in his unit, he remembers, he was most worried about how he should fight in winter, because he does not like the cold, to be in a position in the middle of winter for the military is the most difficult, but the man has been wintering at the front for the second year. our team in the first...