ROME — Ukrainian Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk said Friday that Ukraine cannot be “scared off” and will continue fighting for its right to freedom and independence.

In his video message announcing the 23rd day of this “bloody war,” Greek Catholic Archbishop Shevchuk praised the heroic defense of Ukraine’s national sovereignty while denouncing Russia’s targeted bombing of hospitals and medical buildings.

The archbishop called for prayers for “our medical workers, doctors, nurses, paramedics” and all those who have “first-hand contact with the inexpressible human pain in Ukraine.”

“Medical workers are today perhaps the main targets of various attacks and strikes of the enemy against the peaceful population,” he said.

Citing official information from Ukraine’s Ministry of Health, Shevchuk said that so far “117 hospitals and medical buildings were attacked directly” and seven of these “were completely destroyed and cannot be restored.”

Along with this, “43 emergency medical service vehicles were shot at” and many “doctors and medical workers have died,” he stated.

Sisters Sophia (R), 13, and Anna, 11, Utikalko, who together with their mother and other family members fled war-torn Ukraine, pass the time in a shelter set up for refugees in a primary school not far from the Ukrainian border on March 16, 2022 in Przemysl, Poland. (Sean Gallup/Getty)

“But our medics, our doctors continue to save human life in Ukraine. Today we would like to particularly give thanks in prayer for them, for the medics who deliver babies in cold hospitals without electricity, in Chernihiv, in Mariupol, in Kharkiv, and in other besieged cities in Ukraine,” he said.

As he declared earlier this week, the archbishop expressed hope that a turning point had been reached in the war thanks to Ukrainian resilience and love for the homeland.

“Ukraine cannot be scared off. Ukraine is fighting,” he said in Friday’s message. “Ukraine is fighting for its right to freedom and independence. Ukraine is standing.”

Moreover, he said, “our army which has stopped an enemy great in number, who is not entering further into our country. An enemy who has passed over to so-called total war.”

The archbishop also called on the World Health Organization (W.H.O.) and other international institutions and organizations to speak out in defense of life in Ukraine.

“I thank you for the support you are giving to our medics,” he said. “But speak your word to the whole world, so that the murder of people in Ukraine ceases immediately!”