Ukrainian bishop says Russia still pouring in arms

The Ukrainian bishop whose diocese includes the rebel-occupied Donbass has warned that Russia is still "pouring arms and bullets" into the eastern region, with up to a dozen Ukrainian soldiers dying weekly. 

 

"Russia has no interest in ending the violence - it's fuelling this war to prevent Ukraine from turning to Europe", said Bishop Stanislav Shyrokoradiuk of Kharkiv-Zaporizhia. "While the Ukrainian army complains of daily losses, the separatists are receiving arms and bullets from Russia in such huge quantities that they can inflict maximum damage". 

 

The 61-year-old Franciscan bishop was speaking at a Caritas conference in Germany as US President Donald Trump considered plans to send high-tech defensive weapons to Ukraine to bolster its fight aganst Russian-backed rebels, whose separatist campaign has left over 10,000 dead since Moscow's March 2014 seizure of the Crimean peninsula. 

 

He said parish prayers were being said weekly for up to a dozen fallen Ukrainian soldiers in his diocese, which includes rebel-occupied Donetsk and Luhansk, and counts around 60,000 Catholics. However, he added that he doubted President Vladimir Putin would "achieve his goal of permanent destabilisation", despite persistent violations of an agreed ceasefire, which observers from the Organisation of Security and Co-operation in Europe estimate at up to 600 daily, largely in buffer-zone artillery battles. 

 

"As long as Ukraine remains a source of trouble, its way to Europe will be blocked", said the bishop, who also heads his Church's Caritas-Spes aid organisation. "However, whereas Ukraine's separation into a western and Russian-dominated eastern part was always felt previously, this war has filled many ditches. People are getting closer, and the dispersal of so many internally displaced citizens has allowed solidarity to grow".