Head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church in Week 229 of the War: Mass Killings and Executions Continue Wherever Russian Occupiers Advance
The memory of the victims of the NKVD must serve as a warning to the modern world. For we see that such crimes—mass killings and executions of civilians—continue even today wherever the Russian occupiers advance. This was stated by His Beatitude Sviatoslav, Father and Head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, in his traditional video address during the 229th week of this hideous, sacrilegious war, which we know as Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
The Primate noted that the past few days have been marked by extremely intense fighting along the entire front line. Due to constant shelling, residents of border villages in the Chernihiv and Sumy regions have been forced to evacuate. The enemy continues, day and night, to attack the infrastructure of our cities. However, the greatest tragedy of the week was the massive attack on Kyiv on the night of July 2.
The Head of the Church expressed his deepest condolences to the families of all those who lost their lives.
Just as our people were enduring these terrible crimes, the Synod of Bishops of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church began its annual session at the Marian Spiritual Center “Zarvanytsia.” The main theme of this Synod is fostering vocations to the priesthood and monastic life.
“Modern people,” the spiritual leader said, “often feel lost, unsure of which path to take, and lose sight of the meaning of life. War only deepens this uncertainty. It is precisely in such circumstances that the Church once again proclaims the truth about the Lord God, who calls each of us, speaks to us, and invites us to the fullness of life. He has a plan for the salvation of every person and a path to personal happiness. All that is required of us is to respond to this call.”
His Beatitude Sviatoslav recalled that these days our Church and the Ukrainian people are prayerfully commemorating the victims of one of the most tragic chapters in our history. On June 22, 1941, Nazi Germany launched its invasion of the Soviet Union, inflicting deep wounds on our people.
“In the prisons of Western Ukraine,” the spiritual leader said, “the Soviet repressive authorities carried out the mass execution of more than 22,000 people—members of the Ukrainian intelligentsia, civic and religious leaders, priests, and other prisoners. One of the most tragic chapters of those events was the Chortkiv—Uman tragedy. In Chortkiv, the Soviet repressive authorities shot about 900 prisoners, while nearly a thousand others were forced to march on foot along the ‘road of death’ to Uman—a distance of nearly 400 kilometers. They walked without clothes or shoes, exhausted and tortured. About 200 people were shot along the way, and those who reached Uman were executed in the courtyard of the NKVD prison…”
Read also:
Address by the Head of the UGCC for the 229th Week of the Full-Scale War, July 5, 2026
“We remember so that such tragedies will never happen again. We pray and bear witness to the world about these crimes so that the truth may be heard and no nation will ever again suffer such horrors,” His Beatitude Sviatoslav emphasized.
The UGCC Department for Information
