Major Archbishop Shevchuk denounces Russian strike on children’s hospital
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A July 8 attack by Russia on a children’s hospital and other civilian targets throughout Ukraine is “a sin that cries out to heaven for revenge,” said the head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church.
At least 31 have been killed and over 135 injured as Russian bombers pummeled Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, and numerous cities throughout the nation with more than 40 missiles and guided aerial bombs.
Among the sites struck was the Okhmatdyt children’s hospital in Kyiv, where two adults died and 16 were injured, including seven children.
With rescue efforts ongoing, the casualty count is expected to rise. July 9 was declared a day of mourning in Kyiv.
Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk, head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, released a July 8 statement denouncing the strike.
“In the name of God, with all determination, we condemn this crime against humanity,” he said. “This is not only a crime against human laws and rules, international rules that tell us about the customs and rules of warfare. According to Christian morality, this is a sin that cries out to heaven for revenge.”
Associated Press footage of the attack showed dozens of individuals digging through the rubble to free survivors, with bandaged hospital patients being carried in their mothers’ arms to shelter.
Ukraine President Volodmyr Zelenskyy called for an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council in response to the strike on civilian infrastructure, which is prohibited under international humanitarian law.
“Today we cry with all the victims,” Major Archbishop Shevchuk said. “Today we want to pray for all the dead, especially innocently killed children. Today, we want to wrap our Christian love around all the wounded, all those who are currently hurting the most.”
He concluded his statement with a prayer “for the protection and victory of the lives of our children and women.
“Merciful God, bless our long-suffering Ukrainian land with your just peace,” Major Archbishop Shevchuk said.
Two joint reports from the New Lines Institute and the Raoul Wallenberg Center for Human Rights have determined Russia’s invasion — which continues attacks launched in 2014 — constitutes genocide, with Ukraine reporting more than 135,141 war crimes committed by Russia in Ukraine since February 2022.
During its recent meeting in Bucharest, Romania, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe Parliamentary Assembly adopted a resolution recognizing Russia’s 10-year aggression against Ukraine as genocide.
Major Archbishop Shevchuk also said June 25 that Russian forces have driven out all Greek and Roman Catholic clergy from the occupied areas of Ukraine.
“Our Church was liquidated in the occupied territories,” he said in an interview with media outlet Ukrinform. “In fact, there is not a single Catholic priest in the occupied territories today — either Greek Catholic or Roman Catholic.”
As part of its full-scale invasion of Ukraine — launched in February 2022, and continuing attacks initiated in 2014 — Russia has systematically suppressed a number of faith communities, including Catholic, Christian and Muslim. Churches and worship sites have been destroyed or seized, with clergy of various faiths imprisoned, tortured and in several cases killed.
Two Ukrainian Greek Catholic priests, Redemptorist Father Ivan Levitsky and Father Bohdan Geleta, were released from a year and a half of Russian captivity June 28, having been seized by Russian forces from their church in Berdyansk in November 2022.
Both priests had refused to leave their parishioners following Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022, which continued attacks launched in 2014 against Ukraine. Shortly after Father Levitsky and Father Geleta were captured, Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk, head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, said he had received “the sad news that our priests are being tortured without mercy.”
Father Levitsky and Father Geleta — both of whom had appeared gaunt and weary — were among 10 prisoners who had been returned to Ukrainian authorities on June 28. Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy recognized “the Holy See’s efforts to bring these people home.”
Major Archbishop Shevchuk noted in the Ukrinform interview that Russian officials in the occupied portion of the Zaporizhzhia region formally banned the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church by written decree, as well as the Knights of Columbus and Caritas Ukraine, part of the universal church’s Caritas Internationalis global network of humanitarian aid organizations.