Head of the UGCC on the 58th week of full-scale war: Russia’s forced abduction of children could reach hundreds of thousands
According to official data, more than 16,000 children were abducted by Russians and forcibly taken from their families, claiming that their parents had abandoned them, stated by the Father and Head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, His Beatitude Sviatoslav, in his address on the 58th week of the full-scale war that the Russian aggressor brought to our peaceful land.
“This figure is an officially confirmed number, but the actual number of children who have become victims of Russian violence through forced abduction should reach tens and hundreds of thousands. And this is already recognized today by officials of various states,” the Primate emphasized.
He thanked the international institutions that consider the abduction of Ukrainian children a war crime that must be condemned at the International Criminal Court level for Russia.
The Head of the UGCC noted that some children were returned home. They tell stories of the horrors they have been through. These children, he said, need our special care, human warmth, and spiritual healing.
His Beatitude Sviatoslav noted that massive nighttime attacks with various types of weapons on peaceful cities and villages of our homeland especially marked the last week.
“Obviously,” the spiritual leader says, “when the enemy strikes a high-rise building in Zaporizhzhia at night or a dormitory in Rzhyshchev in the Kyiv region, it aims to kill civilians who are sleeping in their homes. This week Ukraine is mourning dozens of people killed by Russian night strikes.”
“Each of these strikes is, in fact, another war crime. But we can say that Ukraine is still standing, Ukraine fights, Ukraine prays!” the Head of the Church emphasized.
The time of Lent, he said, is a special time of prayer and mortification of one’s cravings, passions, and sinful attachments. But at the same time, it is a time of action, of works of mercy. We in Ukraine are experiencing this Lent as never before, which is prayer in motion for us—fasting as the salvation of human life. Solidarity is a work of mercy that gives hope.
“God bless our army on the frontline, for they create a space of life and freedom for the children of Ukraine,” the Primate asked.
The UGCC Department for Information
