Press Release – March 2, 2022
For Immediate Release
STATEMENT ON THE SITUATION IN UKRAINE
The Orthodox Public Affairs Committee (OPAC) notes with dismay that Vladimir Putin has rejected calls for the de-escalation of hostilities and continues his illegal and immoral invasion of Ukraine. The suffering people of Ukraine continue to show heroic fortitude and courage in facing the Russian aggressors, who are not even supported by most of the Russian people and who are being lied to by their own tyrannical government.
OPAC calls for an immediate ceasefire and withdrawal of Russian invaders from the sovereign nation of Ukraine. We again call for the fratricide to end and for the laying down of arms. We stand with the Ukrainian people and the Orthodox Christians of Ukraine – hierarchs, clergy and laity – who are uniting around the cause of freedom and solidarity, whether they are of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine or the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate.
OPAC also expresses its gratitude to the Nations of Poland, Romania, and all the European countries that are receiving the hundreds of thousands of refugees who have had to flee their homes and homeland due to this cruel and irrational aggression. Such compassionate care for the strangers among us is a first step in the path of peace, and OPAC is committed to continuing to walk that path. Truth Lives in Light!