Ukraine nuncio pleads ‘respect for life’ after Palm Sunday attack

The All-Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organisations condemned what it called Russia’s ‘terrorist attacks’.

Two Russian ballistic missiles hit the Ukrainian town of Sumy on Palm Sunday, killing more than 30 people including two children.

More than 100 others were wounded in the attack on the city centre, which caused sirens to sound across the region.

“I know exactly at what moment this happened, because we heard the air raid alarm at the same time during the Palm Sunday Mass in the cathedral in Kyiv,” Archbishop Visvaldas Kulbokas, the apostolic nuncio to Ukraine, told The Tablet.  “The only thing is that I did not know which of the cities was targeted this time.”

“Those who launch missiles at other people’s heads can certainly silence their consciences by saying that they cannot see the victims with their own eyes. They can even claim that the victims are fictitious, as I have heard many times from people in Russia, even from Ukrainian relatives of my acquaintance,” he said.

“But there is no point in running away from the truth. Only respect for life, for freedom, for other peoples will make us human beings. Of course, I do not have the ability to convince anyone with such words, but I am saying them as a prayer to God.”

In a statement issued the same day, the All-Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organisations condemned what it called Russia’s “terrorist attacks” and called on the international community to take “all possible measures” against them.

“Such actions demonstrate that nothing is sacred for the state that declares itself to be ‘Holy Rus’,” it said. “Basic respect for the value of human life is absent, not to mention respect for the holidays of Christianity and Judaism.”

The statement noted the common celebration of Easter in Orthodox, Catholic and Protestant Churches this year, the 1,700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea.

Earlier this week, diplomats in Kyiv visited the town of Krivyi Rih where nine children and at least 19 other people were killed in a Russian strike on 4 April. Archbishop Kulbokas was part of the group of 32 ambassadors who participated on 8 April.

“We saw with our own eyes that the place where the Russian ballistic missile exploded was a playground for children only,” he said. “Even looking around from the epicentre of the missile, there were only civilian buildings, including a restaurant where it was physically impossible for several dozen military personnel to be present, contrary to what the Russian authorities claimed.”

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