The Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organisations appeals to NATO, the UN, the EU, OSCE and Council of Europe to introduce a no-fly zone over Ukraine and provide the Armed Forces of Ukraine with modern air defence equipment.
This is stated in the appeal of the Council of Churches concerning bombardment of civilian infrastructure in Ukraine by Russian invaders.
The full text of the document has appeared today on the Ukrainian Council of Churches website.
Here it is:
“Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion of the sovereign territory of Ukraine by Russia, we have been watching with our own eyes Russian invaders applying the most cynical ways to fight a war, and ways banned by International Humanitarian Law. Basically, Russia is at war with Ukrainian civilians, as its forces intentionally bombard residential areas, schools, kindergartens, maternity hospitals, health care institutions, and critical infrastructure. They bombard facilities which are necessary for supporting civilians’ life with cruise missiles, and even with cluster munition and thermobaric bombs, which are banned.
The outrageous examples of unjustified cruelty and unreigned aggression of the Russian invaders are the facts of shooting at humanitarian corridors, evacuation buses, and even ambulance cars. The Russian authorities’ degrading attitude to human life, which we see towards Russian soldiers thrown in the jaws of this invading war, is also reflected on civilian citizens, who are forced to rescue themselves from Russian missiles and occupiers by migrating to safer regions of our country and to the neighbouring countries of the European Union.
Not only is the Russian invasion accompanied by shootings and bombardments of civilian infrastructure and residential buildings, but they also attack temples. For example, in Viazivka village, Zhytomyr region, Russian invaders ruined the Church of the Nativity of the All-holy Theotokos built in 1862. As a result of Russians bombarding the centre of Kharkiv, the Dormition Cathedral was damaged. On 7 March, the prayer house of the New Life Evangelical Church in the city of Izium, Kharkiv region, was damaged, and the building of the church itself was completely ruined. In Zavorychi village of the Brovarskyi district, Kyiv region, an Orthodox temple caught fire as a result of fights.
We get messages about bombardments of temples, even those where refugees found their shelter, from different fronts of the Russian invasion. Even the biggest religious sanctuary, Saint Sophia Cathedral, is in danger of an attack.
Considering all that, the Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organisations once again appeals to NATO as Ukraine’s security partner; to the UN, the EU, OSCE and Council of Europe to take immediate measures for introducing a no-fly zone over Ukraine and providing the Armed Forces of Ukraine with modern air defence equipment, including fighter aircrafts, in order to protect our most precious treasure, which is human life, and civilian infrastructure from Russian invaders’ barbaric shootings and bombardments”.
As a reminder, Ukraine has been asking its partners to close our sky from Russian missiles and air forces since the first day of the full-scale war. The closing means the sky being patrolled by air forces, and the air space guarded by air defence systems. If the sky is closed, all military aircrafts appearing in the zone are shot down.