(OSV News) — Ukrainian religious leaders met with the head of the U.S. Catholic bishops’ conference, asking the church in the U.S. to “be on the side of the truth” regarding Russia’s ongoing war against Ukraine.
Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, hosted members of the Ukrainian Council of the Churches of Religious Organizations May 1 in Washington.
UCCRO — established in 1996 and the largest group of its kind in Ukraine — works to unite that nation’s religiously plural communities in a number of efforts, including spiritual revival, interfaith dialogue, church-state relations and charitable initiatives.
Gratitude for Americans’ Support
UCCRO members expressed gratitude for support from the American people — along with real concern about shifts in the U.S. stance on Russia’s ongoing aggression against Ukraine.
“We really have felt the solidarity of the Church in the USA, and we never cease to pray for you,” said Bishop Vitaliy Kryvytskyi of the Latin Church’s Diocese of Kyiv-Zhytomyr, Ukraine, at the gathering.
Fellow UCCRO delegate Bishop Igor Bandura, deputy head of the All-Ukrainian Union of the Churches of Evangelical Christians-Baptists, described prayer as “the most powerful weapon,” and asked for continued intercession for Ukraine.
At the same time, Bishop Kryvytskyi urged U.S. faithful “not to allow a false narrative to prevail in the current political climate.” He stressed that Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine — launched in February 2022, and continuing attacks begun in 2014 — are “‘war,’ not a ‘conflict.’”
‘Things Have Shifted’
He said, “This is one example of how we see things have shifted.”
The current Trump administration has signaled an array of messages regarding Ukraine — often appearing to side with Russia, while at times blaming both sides or claiming ambivalence.
More recently, following President Donald Trump’s meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelenskyy in St. Peter’s Basilica, the U.S. entered into a minerals deal with Ukraine without providing explicit security guarantees — a contrast with the 1994 Budapest Memorandum, under which the U.S., the United Kingdom and Russia pledged security assurances for post-Soviet Ukraine as it acceded to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.
However, the Trump minerals deal was followed by the U.S. authorizing a Patriot missile battery’s transfer from Israel to Ukraine, and it has been described on the Ukrainian side as an important part of developing its future security architecture.
Deportation of Ukrainian Children
During their meeting with Archbishop Broglio, UCCRO members highlighted in particular Russia’s deportation of thousands of Ukrainian children for “reeducation,” placement and adoption by Russian families. Ukraine’s government officially counts 19,546 Ukrainian children that have been taken by Russian authorities, while Russian officials themselves claim the number of children in their custody is more than 700,000.
The forced transfers, which violate international law, have triggered two of the six arrest warrants issued by the International Criminal Court against Russian officials, including one against Russian President Vladimir Putin and child commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova.
Russia’s Targeting of Churches
The UCCRO delegation also pointed to Russia’s targeting of churches and houses of worship, with more than 600 religious buildings damaged, and religious persecution in Ukraine’s occupied territories.
In 2022, Russian officials banned the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, the Knights of Columbus and Caritas, the official humanitarian arm of the universal Catholic Church, in occupied areas of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region. Two Ukrainian Catholic priests, Father Bohdan Geleta and Father Ivan Levitsky, were captured, imprisoned and tortured for 18 months before their June 2024 release during a Vatican-mediated prisoner exchange.
Archbishop Broglio, who also heads the U.S. Archdiocese for the Military Services, urged the UCCRO members to “continue to speak the truth, even when not politically expedient, respect fundamental human rights and treat every human person with dignity, even Russian prisoners of war.”
Gina Christian is a multimedia reporter for OSV News. Follow her on X @GinaJesseReina.
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