The All-Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organizations reiterated its call on world leaders, OSCE, EU, and NATO allies to take urgent measures to establish a no-fly zone over Ukraine or provide the Ukrainian Army with modern air defense systems and fighter jets.
This is stated in the relevant address, released by the Council on April 1.
The following is the full text of the document.
More than a month into the start of Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine, at least 153 children have been killed and more than 245 injured. Thousands of civilians in Ukraine have already been killed in constant Russian bombings and shelling of residential neighborhoods.
Russian troops shelled about 859 schools, 83 of which were completely destroyed. In the bombings, at least 100 manufacturing plants, 150 medical facilities, and 4,500 households were destroyed, including apartment blocks. Their number continues to rise. The United Nations has recorded dozens of bombings and missile attacks that have affected health care facilities, including 50 hospitals.
As a result, millions of civilians of different nationalities and religions living peacefully in Ukraine have faced a humanitarian catastrophe caused by Russia’s military invasion. The situation is especially complicated by strikes on food depots and convoys with humanitarian aid, as well as the blockade of a number of Ukrainian cities, to which Russian invaders resort. Thousands of people in Kyiv region and tens of thousands in Mariupol, Donetsk region, are still under Russian siege, with no access to food, water, medical care, and other critical necessities.
The Russian blockade of Mariupol has already killed nearly 5,000 civilians who had been subjected to constant shelling, including during their attempts to evacuate through pre-arranged humanitarian corridors. Kyiv, Kharkiv, Chernihiv, Sumy, Kherson, Mykolaiv, Donetsk, and Luhansk regions are currently under continuous shelling, bombing, and missile attacks.
Every human life is of extraordinary value, so the All-Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organizations has repeatedly called on world leaders, OSCE participating States, the EU, and NATO to take urgent measures to establish a no-fly zone over Ukraine or provide the Ukrainian Army with modern air defense systems and warplanes that will be able to protect the civilians in Ukraine from regular bombardments and missile strikes by Russian invaders.
In addition, the Council of Churches has appealed to the leadership of the Russian Federation, international organizations, church hierarchs, and religious figures of the peoples of Russia – to take urgent measures to unblock Mariupol, Berdiansk, Kherson, and other cities of Ukraine, and to set up humanitarian corridors to evacuate residents of Ukrainian cities, where active hostilities are underway, to safer locations of their choice.
Even in times of great turmoil, war, and strife, humanity and charity must not be forgotten. Each of us must do everything possible to save human lives and end this hateful aggressive war launched by Russia as soon as possible.
