ROME — Ukrainian Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk said Wednesday that Ukraine suffered more missile strikes in just one night than Syria did in 11 years of war.
“We see that a military confrontation of unprecedented force and intensity is unfolding in our lands,” Archbishop Shevchuk said in his video message, but in response “the Ukrainian people are showing unprecedented examples of heroism.”
“The Ukrainian people amazes the world with its heroism, its zeal, its love for God and country,” he declared proudly.
“Yesterday, the whole of Ukraine was rocked by large and powerful missiles attacks,” the archbishop said. “In just one evening, 20 cruise missiles were fired at Ukraine. There were attacks in eight regions of Ukraine.”
“We can say that in one evening Ukraine was hit as many times by missiles as, for example, in Syria during the 11 years of war there,” he added.
As of Wednesday, Ukraine has suffered “70 days of brutal war,” he noted, which “Russia has unleashed against our homeland and against our people.”
Hlib Kihitov (L) is hugged by a friend following the funeral of his twin brother, 21 year-old Yegor Kihitov, on April 26, 2022 in Lviv, Ukraine. Born fifteen minutes before his brother, Yegor volunteered in the army but was killed in shelling near Popasna. (Leon Neal/Getty Images)
The archbishop said that the whole of Donbas and the south of Ukraine are under fire and Kharkiv and Mykolayiv were once again bombed and fired upon.
“Defending their homeland, defending their native land,” he stated, Ukrainians are “courageously holding their ground, not even being able to evacuate the wounded who are slowly dying from their wounds.”
Great war is “connected with great falsehood,” Shevchuk said. “But the Lord God reveals us to the world as a great treasure shining with His truth. In particular, when we suffer for the truth, when we witness to Christ in the suffering of Ukraine.”
“O God, bless Ukraine! O God, give us the strength to witness to You in the world today!” he said. “O God, through our suffering and patience, even through the denigration that our enemy pours out on us, may we have the opportunity to witness of You, our God and Savior!”
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