THE Primate of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk, said that Russia carried out “especially brutal attacks” on his country last week, despite President Zelensky’s agreeing a truce to commemorate the end of the Second World War.
“Although there was much talk about a possible cessation of hostilities, it became one of the bloodiest weeks,” Archbishop Shevchuk said.
“With the civilised world, Ukraine honoured the memory of all those who gave their lives for victory over Nazism and fascism, those disgusting anti-human ideologies. Yet Russia did not keep its promises — our cities and villages were bombed day and night.”
The message was published after traditional Victory Day military parades in Moscow, which were scaled back despite Ukraine’s pledge not to target them with drones and missiles. This was made amid fresh peace appeals by the Pope and the Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarch, Bartholomew of Constantinople.
AlamyPatriarch Kirill at the Victory Day military parade in Moscow on Saturday
Archbishop Shevchuk also observed Ukrainian Mother’s Day by thanking women for not “renouncing the gift of motherhood” during the current war, and for “overcoming death by giving birth to new life”. “Every day we live is a time won back from death, in which life triumphs,” he said.
In a separate message this week, the Primate of Ukraine’s independent Orthodox Church, Metropolitan Epiphany (Dumenko), marking the Day of Remembrance and Victory over Nazism in the Second World War (8 May), said that it had a “deep and painful meaning” for Ukrainians, when their country was acting as a “shield for Europe” against “hatred, violence, and death” from Russia.
“History has shown what totalitarian regimes’ contempt for freedom and human dignity leads to — when evil does not receive a proper response, it returns under different flags with new slogans,” he continued. “This is why Ukraine’s fight isn’t just for its own independence, but for the right of all peoples to live in freedom and security.”
More than a dozen Western countries condemned Russian destruction of Ukraine’s cultural heritage sites during last week’s Venice Biennale art exhibition, whose jury resigned on 30 April over a decision to allow Moscow and Israel to participate.