Peace in Ukraine must not ‘appease dictators’, warns Shevchuk

Archbishop Shevchuk made a visit to the US as the Trump administration began to open diplomatic channels to Russia in an attempt to end the war in Ukraine.

The head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church called for a lasting peace in Ukraine “that does not appease dictators” as the US began bilateral negotiations with Russia.

“Putin’s objectives are clear: he wants to erase Ukraine, its people, and its church,” Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk at a panel discussion at the Hudson Institute in Washington, DC on Thursday, during a visit to the Ukrainian Catholic community in the US.

“If Russia succeeds in occupying Ukraine, our church will not survive. For us, it’s a matter of life and death,” Shevchuk said.

He continued: “History teaches us that whenever Russia takes control of territories with Eastern Catholics, it forces them into the Russian Orthodox Church, drives them into exile, or sends them to perish in prison camps.”

Shevchuk made his visit as the Trump administration began to open diplomatic channels to Russia in an attempt to end the war in Ukraine. Top US and Russian diplomats met in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, marking the first major communication between Washington and Moscow since the start of the war three years ago. Ukrainian and European diplomats were excluded from the meeting.

During the Hudson Institute discussion, which also included the Ukrainian Catholic Archbishop of Philadelphia Borys Gudziak and Archpriest Marc Morozovich, Shevchuk warned of the dangers if Ukraine were occupied by Russia.

“We seek a just peace, not a temporary ceasefire that lets the aggressor return stronger,” he said.

He further asserted that the Baltic states, Poland, Georgia, Armenia, and other central Asian countries would also soon be in danger of occupation should Russia prevail. “Putin wants to rebuild the Russian Empire – if Ukraine falls, others will be next,” Shevchuk said.

“We cannot afford to be naïve,” he continued. “As the Apostle Paul warns, ‘While people are saying peace and security, then sudden disaster comes upon them.’”

President Donald Trump recently signalled his administration’s intention to reduce US support for Ukraine. In a social media post on Wednesday, he claimed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy – whom he described as a “modestly successful comedian” – had manipulated the US into spending $350 billion “to go into a war that couldn’t be won”.

Trump said Zelenskyy was responsible for the conflict’s duration and its death toll, claiming the Ukrainian president “has done a terrible job” leaving his country “shattered”.

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Shevchuk said he believed Trump’s statements mirrored “Russian propaganda talking points” and that Ukraine’s future, and that of the church, depends on a lasting peace.

He cited the example of how in December 2022, Russian authorities declared the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church illegal, outlawing Caritas Ukraine and the Knights of Columbus. He also spoke of two Ukrainian priests who suffered “brutal torture” over the course of 18 months of Russian captivity. Their release, he said, was “thanks to the special effort and mediation of the Holy See”.

“But at least 10 others, Protestants, pastors, are in the same condition and they are tortured right now, at this moment. We have to remember them and speak up on behalf of their release,” he said.

“Despite Russian propaganda that falsely claims Ukraine suppresses religious freedom, the truth is quite the opposite,” Shevchuk continued. “Ukraine guarantees religious liberty, allowing all faiths to practice freely. Meanwhile, in Russian-occupied territories, religious groups not aligned with the Russian Orthodox Church are persecuted.”

Shevchuk described the forced deportation of Ukrainian children as “one of the most horrifying crimes of this war”.

“Thousands have been taken from occupied territories and placed in Russian families, orphanages, or so-called re-education camps,” he said. “These children are forced to forget their Ukrainian identity. Many aren’t even back from Russia. Many are even given new names.” Shevchuk added: “Each deported child represents another family torn apart by war.”

To end the war, he said, Ukraine “must have a clear strategy for peace, one that does not appease dictators”.

Shevchuk likened the Russian political concept “Ruskiy Mir”, or “Russian World”, to that of radical Islamism. “The ideology of the ‘Russian world’ is Russian jihadism,” he said. “The whole ideology of the war is to come back to the times of the Soviet Union.” For this to occur, Shevchuk said, would be for Ukrainians to return “back to the catacombs”.

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