Kyiv, Ukraine, Mar 9, 2022 / 07:47 am
The leader of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church said on Wednesday that Ukraine’s spiritual heritage is “being destroyed by bombing.”
In a video message issued on March 9, Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk said that “priests are being killed” amid fighting in the north, south, and east of Ukraine following Russia’s full-scale invasion on Feb. 24.
“Our spiritual heritage is being destroyed by bombing. Churches, our spiritual values, cultural treasures. Priests are being killed, volunteers, all those who try in some way to ease the suffering of this Ukrainian nation flowing with blood,” he said.
The major archbishop, who is based in the besieged capital city of Kyiv, stressed the unity among religious bodies in Ukraine, a country with a population of 44 million people before the war.