Maksym Ryabukha

Bishop Maksym Ryabukha, S.D.B. (; born 18 May 1980) is a Ukrainian Greek Catholic hierarch as Titular Bishop of Stephaniacum and Archiepiscopal Exarch of Donetsk since 17 October 2024. Previously he served as an Auxiliary Bishop of the Archiepiscopal Exarchate of Donetsk since 19 September 2022 until 17 October 2024.

Early life and formation Bishop Ryabukha was born in Lviv and grew up as a parishioner of the local Salesian Church of Protection of the Mother of God. After graduation from the school education in Lviv, he joined a pre-novitiate of the Salesians Congregation in Obroshyne in 1997 and after a Salesian novitiate in Nave, Italy (1998–1999); he made a profession in 1999 and a solemn profession on 19 August 2005, simultaneously studying in the Salesian Pontifical University (1999–2001, 2003–2006).

From February 2016 to July 2018, he worked in the Apostolic Nunciature to Ukraine, acting as a translator of the Apostolic Nuncio in Ukraine. He was consecrated as a bishop by Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk and co-consecrators: bishop Stepan Meniok and bishop Yosyf Milyan in the Cathedral of the Resurrection of Christ in Kyiv on 22 December 2022.

On 17 October 2024 he was appointed as the second Archiepiscopal Exarch of Donetsk. he described himself as a "bishop on wheels", and described the state of mind of his faithful: "We feel helpless, because it is as if nobody sees what is happening. What hurts most is seeing that the world remains silent while civilian areas are bombed and people are killed. From a practical standpoint, we can’t see a significant response from the world. The only thing that gives us hope is that God is stronger than the evil we can find in the world."