Missing persons are a deep wound for the Ukrainian people: Head of the UGCC in the 80th week of war
On August 30, the global community marks the International Day of the Disappeared. The fact that today we know nothing about thousands of people in Ukraine is a deep wound for our people. His Beatitude Sviatoslav, the Father and Head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, said this on the 80th week of the full-scale military invasion of peaceful Ukrainian land by the Russian Federation.
Photo: Oleksandr Ratushniak / Reuters
“The 80th week of the indefatigable and unbreakable resilience of the Ukrainian people, the 80th week of pain, blood, tears, and suffering of millions of Ukrainians,” the Primate emphasized.
According to him, despite incessant tragic events, as the enemy continues to deliberately kill our civilians by dropping missiles into the centers of Ukrainian cities such as Chernihiv, Dnipro, and Zaporizhzhia, the UGCC is constantly ministering to heal the wounds of war.
“One of the aspects of the pastoral care of healing war wounds,” the spiritual leader notes, “is special attention to the most vulnerable. That is why, in the occupied and liberated territories, we are now opening libraries and centers of joy, trying to be close to those who suffer the most and are in pain. And we say again: Ukraine is standing! Ukraine is fighting! Ukraine is praying!”
According to the information provided by the Ukrainian authorities, 24,000 Ukrainian citizens are reported missing. About 7,000 are military personnel, of whom 65 percent are alive, and the rest are presumed dead, but there is no definite information about their deaths. Almost nothing is known about the fate of the missing Ukrainian civilians.
“Let us just think, for a second,” says the Primate, “of the pain of relatives and friends: fathers and mothers who do not know what happened to their child, women and children who have lost contact with their husband and father. Many of these relatives come to priests crying, with heartache, saying: We don’t even know how to pray for our relatives, either for their rescue or for their eternal rest.”
The Primate emphasizes that humanitarian law states that one of the rights of a family member of a missing person is to know the fate of their loved one.
“Therefore, today, on the occasion of this International Day, I want to embrace with love, attention, and prayer those awaiting news of their loved ones. I appeal to the international institutions that have the ability to search for missing persons in Ukraine: help us find those from whom we have no news. Let us pray today for the families who are crying and waiting for their loved ones to return home alive,” the Head of the UGCC called.
The UGCC Department for Information
