The head of the Ukrainian Catholic Church, Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk of Kyiv-Halych, has warned that continued Russian attacks on his country's infrastructure will merely strengthen national resistance, urging citizens to respond by conserving energy and upholding regulations.
Russia’s attacks have targeted Ukraine’s energy supply for some weeks, with Kyiv and other locations across the country being hit on Monday by a new wave of missiles and drones.
More than 50 missiles hit critical facilities across Ukraine, leaving 80 per cent of Kyiv residents without water and around 350,000 apartments with no electricity, according to the capital's mayor, Vitaliy Klitschko. Russia also targeted power installations in the Kharkiv, Vinnytsia, Dnipro and Zaporizhzhia regions, as well as around the western city of Lviv.
The strikes followed a drone attack on Russia's Black Sea fleet in Crimea, that Moscow alleged the United Kingdom had masterminded. The UK rejected the allegation. Moscow subsequently withdrew from a summer deal to allow Ukrainian grain exports across the Black Sea, raising fresh fears of hunger across the world.
“The enemy thinks he will intimidate Ukrainians and break down our yearning for freedom,” said Archbishop Shevchuk. “But with each attack, Ukraine grows stronger – and with every new effort to save electricity, respect traffic rules and observe our laws during this war, the more we will strengthen our country in the face of this cruel aggressor.”
Meanwhile Ukraine’s SBU intelligence agency said it had begun criminal proceedings against 33 Orthodox clergy for supporting Russia’s attacks, as the director of the Catholic Caritas organisation in Odessa, Vasyl Kolodchin, appealed to Poland’s Catholic Information Agency (KAI) for help in obtaining electricity generators.
Speaking last week, the Vatican’s Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, welcomed a Kremlin offer to remain “open to all contacts”, including possible talks with Pope Francis. “We don't know what these words mean – but if a small gap opens up, we will definitely use it,” Cardinal Parolin told Italian media.
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