Rodricks: Baltimore-based Catholic Relief Services rendering aid in Ukraine as war continues

By the time Erik Heinonen, a humanitarian worker for Baltimore-based Catholic Relief Services, returned to his home in Irpin, Ukraine, last month, the coffee shops and grocery stores were open again. It was safe to walk the dog and take his daughter to the playground. Heinonen’s house was still standing. But his neighbor’s house, across the alley, was gone. The apartment building across the street had been hit with missiles. “We were lucky,” Heinonen said over the phone the other day, as the anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine approached. “A shell had landed in our front yard. It broke windows and punctured a fence and left divots in the wall of the house. We were fortunate.”