As Russia bombards Ukrainian civilians amid stalled U.S.-brokered talks, Ukraine’s churches declare Moscow a “terrorist state” and warn Europe could be next if aggression is appeased.
Newsroom (03/12/2025 Gaudium Press ) Ukraine’s top religious leaders issued a stark warning on November 29 that failure to stop and punish Russia’s systematic attacks on civilians will inevitably draw other European nations into the expanding war, as fresh Russian missile and drone barrages killed more civilians just days after the statement was released.
The Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organizations (UCCRO), representing Orthodox, Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, and Muslim communities—including Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk, head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church—condemned what it called “another massive terrorist attack” on Kyiv and multiple regions.
The Nov. 29 strikes came in a wave of recent deadly assaults on cities including Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia, Dnipro, Odesa, and Ternopil that have killed dozens of civilians, among them children, and destroyed homes, hospitals, and schools in clear violation of international humanitarian law.
In its statement, the UCCRO accused Russia of “taking advantage of the insufficient reaction of democratic states” and using “lobbyists and various agents of influence” in NATO and EU countries to continue “systematic terror against the civilian population of Ukraine.”
The religious leaders’ appeal coincides with months of stalled U.S.-led peace initiatives under the incoming Trump administration. A recent proposal was widely criticized for appearing to accommodate Moscow’s demands, including the permanent cession of occupied territories—where millions live under harsh occupation and the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church and other denominations remain banned—as well as sharp reductions in Ukraine’s military and permanent exclusion from NATO.
On the eve of a Dec. 2 meeting with a U.S. delegation, Russian President Vladimir Putin rejected European conditions for ending the war as “not acceptable,” while declaring Russia was “not going to fight with Europe” but adding ominously, “if Europe wants to fight with us, we are ready to do so right now.”
The UCCRO statement directly countered any notion of appeasement, declaring: “If the crimes of the Russian Federation against Ukraine and the Ukrainian people are not stopped and punished, other countries of Northern, Central, and Eastern Europe will inevitably become the next targets of Russian state terrorism.”
The council warned that “this evil will also reach those countries that believe they are sufficiently protected or think that they can make agreements with Russia, trade with it, and that everything will be fine,” stressing that “such a policy of appeasement does not lead to peace or good.”
Instead, the religious leaders insisted that “true peace is possible only when peacebuilding efforts are combined with strengthening Ukraine in accordance with the formula ‘peace through strength.’”
Labeling Russia “a terrorist state,” the UCCRO asserted that Russian citizens who support the war and the killings “are complicit in crimes against humanity.” Russia’s actions since 2014, escalated in 2022, have been designated genocide in separate reports by the New Lines Institute and the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights.
The council further stated that any continued support for Russia, including through “shadow” trade schemes, “is tantamount to encouraging Russia’s further aggression and terror” and carries “moral responsibility and accountability before the Almighty.”
In a direct appeal, the UCCRO urged global church leaders, interfaith bodies, NGOs, and media “to condemn the crimes of the Russian Federation and to make every necessary effort to counter Russian disinformation at the global level.”
The religious leaders called on democratic nations to pair diplomatic efforts with increased defensive aid to Ukraine and intensified pressure on Moscow “in order to compel it to cease its military aggression against Ukraine and to establish a just and lasting peace.”
Closing on a note of gratitude, the council thanked religious communities, politicians, and people of goodwill worldwide for their prayers and support “for an end to Russian military aggression, and for the establishment of a just and durable peace for Ukraine and Europe.”
- Raju Hasmukh with files from OSV News
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