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The head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, His Beatitude Sviatoslav, addressed Ukrainians on the 15th day of the war. He aims to show the whole world our protest against the mass murder of people in Ukraine.
«Yesterday, we saw mass killings in besieged Mariupol. The city, which was founded by the Greek community as the city of Mary, has now become a cemetery for tens, thousands of people. We saw footage of the bombing of the maternity hospital, as well as mass graves, mass graves, which contain hundreds of lifeless bodies. Today we say to the whole world: «No» to the mass murders in Ukraine! «, – he says in his address.
Since the days of Nazism and Stalinist repression, Ukraine has never seen such mass burials and mass graves of people without respect, without Christian prayer. Mariupol has about 400,000 inhabitants, and the city has been completely surrounded for almost two weeks. People are dying of hunger, of cold, rockets, missiles and bombs are falling on their heads. Today, we call on the whole world to stop mass killings.
«We must remember them and speak on their behalf to the conscience of the world. We ask: open humanitarian corridors! Give women, children, the elderly the opportunity to get out of this cold besieged city! Give us the opportunity to deliver food and medicine there! Give the opportunity to save people!
On behalf of the city of Mariupol, we appeal to the whole world: close the skies over Ukraine from Russian aircraft dropping bombs on civilians! We raise our voice in defence of those who are dying before the eyes of the world,» – he added.
Today, millions of people are leaving their homes in the south, east, centre and north of Ukraine and moving to safer places. His Beatitude Sviatoslav also addressed all residents of Ukraine whose homes are being visited by IDPs. He asks not to pay attention to what language they speak, to which Church they go, what customs they have, instead he calls to open their hearts and homes to them.
«In our eyes, a terrible humanitarian catastrophe is growing in Ukraine. But together, we can stop it – we can stop this war. We pray, we save human life,» – said the Head of the UGCC.
He calls on the world’s Ukrainian communities, all our bishops and priests to bring the truth about the genocide of our people to the world community. In all our churches, he asks for funeral services for those who are buried in mass graves without Christian prayer and burial.
«With our prayer, our help to the victims, our voice to the conscience of the world, we will stop the madness of this war!» God, save Ukraine! God, save our sons and daughters! God, give strength to the Ukrainian army to stop this deadly wave that is approaching Ukraine! God, bless your people and save your people! « – he added.
We will remind that guards of the Mikhailovsky golden-domed monastery neutralized the Russian sabotage group which tried to get into its territory. Also, marks were noticed and discovered near the area. The goal of the Russians could be the Head of the PCU, Metropolitan Epiphanius.
Translated by Vitalii Holich
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