Ukrainian Church leaders have unanimously condemned the staging of referendums in Russian-occupied areas of their country as a prelude to their annexation by Moscow, as President Vladimir Putin announced a mass “partial mobilisation” of troops to continue the war.
“Under conditions of military occupation, any wish to demonstrate elements of democracy is, in reality, just a mockery and expression of disrespect for people - everyone understands it is impossible for anyone to show his true will when faced with machine gun barrels,” said Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk, the head of Ukraine’s Greek Catholic Church. “I therefore ask our faithful and all people of goodwill to pray for those who, through expressing their opinions, are being used by others for political games.”
The Archbishop issued his message as ballots on joining Russia were held under police and military supervision in occupied parts of Ukraine’s Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhia regions, fuelling fears that their expected annexation by Moscow could be used as an excuse for much harsher measures against Ukraine.
Meanwhile, the “pseudo-referendums” were also denounced by Ukraine's Council of Churches and Religious Organisations, which insisted Ukrainian sovereignty over all territory was “integral and inviolable”.
“The full-scale war launched by Russia against Ukraine aims to seize part of its territory and destroy the Ukrainian state, contrary to international law,|” said the Council, which includes Catholics, Protestants, Muslims and Jews, as well as the country’s two rival Orthodox churches. “We urge all citizens living in temporarily occupied territories not to participate, and to remain aware of their responsibility to God, their conscience, and the Ukrainian people’s previous, current and future generations.”
President Putin's 22 September announcement that 300,000 reservists were being immediately called up to fight, after dramatic Ukrainian advances in a month-long counter-offensive, sparked protests and arrests across Russia. However, Putin's order, which was accompanied by veiled nuclear warnings, was enthusiastically endorsed by Russia's Orthodox patriarch, who said selfless military service could be compared to God's sacrifice of his own Son and reassured conscripts their sins would be forgiven if they were killed.
“Our Church, which carries out its pastoral ministry among the peoples of Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and many others in the vastness of historical Russia, especially suffers and prays today for the speedy cessation of internecine strife – for the triumph of justice and restoration of fraternal communion,” Patriarch Kirill told a Moscow congregation on Sunday.
Meanwhile, the Moscow Patriarchate's chancellor, Metropolitan Dionysius of Voskresensk, told young Russians they had a duty to fight in line with Putin’s order, which coincided with a government admission that almost 6,000 soldiers had so far died in the “special military operation” launched last February, although Ukrainian and Western estimates put the figure much higher.
“If this is a war for justice and truth, then a person is obliged to take up arms and protect his loved ones,” the Metropolitan told the Rossiya-24 TV channel. “Although God loves peace, there are non-peaceful people in the world, so peace cannot be achieved without military help.”
Addressing the United Nations General Assembly on 24 September, two days after talks with the Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, the Vatican’s Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, said any threat to use nuclear weapons was “despicable” and deserved “unequivocal condemnation”.
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