13013 visitors online
956 6

Russian Federation is holding about 27,000 civilian hostages: Lubinets appealed to Vatican for help

лубінець

The Verkhovna Rada Commissioner for Human Rights, Dmytro Lubinets, called on Cardinal Matteo Maria Zuppi, Archbishop of Bologna and President of the Italian Bishops’ Conference, to facilitate the return of civilian hostages, including priests held by the Russian Federation.

As Censor.NET reports with reference to Ukrinform, this was discussed at a meeting held on Monday in Kyiv.

"The Russian Federation massively detains civilians. The approximate number we are now calling 27,000 citizens of Ukraine. But it is impossible to establish exactly. This also includes priests. Moreover, from different denominations. Separately, I would like to draw your attention to the fact that two priests of the Ukrainian Greek of the Catholic Church were detained in the temporarily occupied territory and are in captivity of the Russian Federation. We also ask you to do everything possible to save them," Lubinets said.

According to him, the priests are in the colony. "The Russian Federation continues to suppress the rights of believers in the temporarily occupied territories. 305 religious buildings were directly destroyed," the ombudsman added.

As reported, Pope Francis' envoy for peace in Ukraine, Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, is visiting Kyiv on June 5-6. The main goal is to listen carefully to the Ukrainian authorities about possible ways to achieve a just peace and to support gestures of humanity that will help ease tensions.