“Russian occupiers killed 67 priests and destroyed more than 600 churches. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine reported the death of 67 priests and the destruction of more than 630 religious buildings at the hands of the Russian occupiers. The occupation authorities prohibit the activities of religious organizations not connected with the Moscow Patriarchate.”, — write on: unn.ua
Details
The spokesman of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that since the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, 67 ministers of various Ukrainian churches and religious organizations have died at the hands of the Russian occupiers. More than 630 prayer buildings and places of worship in Ukraine: churches, mosques, synagogues, prayer houses were destroyed or damaged by Russian shelling.
“The Russian occupation administrations have deployed massive repressive practices against not only denominations prohibited by Russian law, such as Jehovah’s Witnesses or Tahrir, but also all other religious organizations that are not connected to the Moscow Patriarchate. All this has led to a rapid reversal of religious freedom in the territories not under the control of the government of Ukraine,” Tykhy said.
In addition, among the banned organizations were those engaged in humanitarian aid, such as the Order of the Knights of Columbus and the “Caritas” foundation.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs called on the international community to pay attention to these flagrant violations of human rights, strengthen sanctions against Russia and intensify efforts to bring those responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity to justice.
“Despite the realities of war, Ukraine continues to make every effort to protect and assert religious freedom and steadfastly adheres to the norms of international law governing the issue of freedom of religion and belief. We call on the international community to respond appropriately to systematic violations of human rights in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine, to strengthen sanctions pressure on the Russian Federation, increase and intensify work on bringing to justice all those guilty of the crime of aggression, genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity. And I appeal to international partners to actively support Ukraine’s struggle for a comprehensive, just and sustainable peace,” said the spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
We will remind
Earlier UNN wrote that the Russian invaders killed 50 priests and destroyed about 700 churches in Ukraine. Clergymen were tortured for refusing to serve the Moscow Patriarchate.