The Pan-Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organizations today made an appeal to all those that have the power and the competence, to a cease the fire and the bombardments, and to find in themselves the sufficient strength and courage to take up the preceding stated commitments and find a way for a peaceful solution to the conflict. The appeal came in the following statement:

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Following the worsening of the situation in the Ukrainian regions of Donetsk and Luhansk and the violation of the cease-fire, which has again led to irreparable human losses, causing profound grief and human suffering, as well as the unprecedented strengthening of the Russian troops close to the borders of the Ukrainian State, the Pan-Ukrainian Council of Church and Religious Organizations appeals to all those that have the power and competence, to cease the fire and the bombardments, and to find in themselves the sufficient strength and courage to take up preceding stated statements and to find the way to a peaceful solution of the conflict.

On the eve of Easter, one of the greatest Christians feasts, which for many inhabitants of our country remains an occasion of interior renewal and source of spiritual consolation, we ask you to show wisdom and courage so that, in this period, solemn Easter songs are heard in our homeland and not firearm shots. May sincere Easter wishes echo again, while arms must be silenced in order to establish a solid and lasting peace.

Recognizing the importance of the preceding cease-fire agreements reached, we, the representatives of the Churches and Religious Organizations of Ukraine, stress the necessity of the signers to reaffirm their commitment to the principles and decisions stated, and to remove immediately all the obstacles to a peaceful solution of the conflict in Eastern Ukraine, ceasing definitively the shedding of blood.

We ask the representatives of International Institutions and the Diplomatic Corps in Ukraine to show firmness and resolute commitment to taking up again the process of search for a diplomatic solution to the military conflict and the establishment of a just peace in the whole country within the borders recognized by the International Community.

+SVIATOSLAV

President of the Pan-Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organizations,

Head and Father of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church

Major Archbishop of Kyiv-Halych

April 12, 2021, Kyiv