(OSV News) ─ As Russian attacks on Ukrainian civilians accompany U.S.-brokered peace talks that as of Dec. 3 produced no breakthrough, Ukraine's religious leaders warn that failure to halt Russia and hold it accountable will expand the war to Europe.
The Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organizations ─ whose members include Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk, head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church ─ issued a Nov. 29 statement condemning "another massive terrorist attack" on Kyiv and other regions of Ukraine.
The Nov. 29 missile and drone strikes followed Russia's recent attacks on a number of Ukrainian cities, among them Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia, Dnipro, Odesa and Ternopil, killing dozens of civilians ─ including several children ─ and destroying homes, hospitals, schools and other civilian infrastructure, in violation of international law.
UCCRO said in its statement that Russia was "taking advantage of the insufficient reaction of democratic states and using its lobbyists and various agents of influence in NATO and EU countries and beyond, continues to commit systematic terror against the civilian population of Ukraine."
Efforts by the Trump administration to broker peace have stalled for months. A recent plan was heavily criticized as appeasing Moscow's maximalist demands, which include ceding substantial Ukrainian territory ─ where millions live under brutal occupation, with the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church and other faith communities banned. The Kremlin has also demanded that Ukraine reduce its military and agree to permanent exclusion from NATO.
Ahead of meeting with a U.S. delegation Dec. 2, Russian President Vladimir Putin dismissed Europe's conditions for ending Russia's war as "not acceptable," adding, "We are not going to fight with Europe. … But if Europe wants to fight with us, we are ready to do so right now."
However, warned UCCRO in its statement, "if the crimes of the Russian Federation against Ukraine and the Ukrainian people are not stopped and punished, other countries of Northern, Central, and Eastern Europe will inevitably become the next targets of Russian state terrorism."
UCCRO added that "this evil will also reach those countries that believe they are sufficiently protected or think that they can make agreements with Russia, trade with it, and that everything will be fine."
Yet "such a policy of appeasement does not lead to peace or good," the religious leaders stressed.
Rather, they said, "True peace is possible only when peacebuilding efforts are combined with strengthening Ukraine in accordance with the formula 'peace through strength.'"
UCCRO said that "the actions of the Russian Federation clearly demonstrate that it is a terrorist state."
Moreover, said the group, "Those Russian citizens who support this war and these killings are complicit in crimes against humanity."
Russia's attacks on Ukraine ─ initiated in 2014 and accelerated in 2022 ─ have been declared a genocide in two joint reports from the New Lines Institute and The Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights.
UCCRO stressed that "any support for the Russian Federation, including 'shadow' trade schemes, is tantamount to encouraging Russia’s further aggression and terror, and therefore entails moral responsibility and accountability before the Almighty."
The group urged church and religious leaders, along with international interfaith institutions, non-governmental organizations and the media, "to condemn the crimes of the Russian Federation and to make every necessary effort to counter Russian disinformation at the global level."
"We call on the world’s leading democratic nations, alongside peacebuilding efforts, to increase the provision of effective defense and protection means to Ukraine and to intensify pressure on the Russian Federation in order to compel it to cease its military aggression against Ukraine and to establish a just and lasting peace," said UCCRO.
The religious leaders expressed their gratitude to religious leaders and believers of all faiths, as well as to politicians and people of goodwill, for supporting the Ukrainian people ─ and "for their prayers for an end to Russian military aggression, and for the establishment of a just and durable peace for Ukraine and Europe."
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Gina Christian is a multimedia reporter for OSV News. Follow her on X @GinaJesseReina.
