Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk, the head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, said on March 21 that “real genocide” is taking place in besieged Mariupol.

Outside Mariupol, “real crimes against humanity are being committed,” he added. “We receive daily news about humanitarian catastrophes, murders, looting and rapes. But even there, in the south of Ukraine, peaceful people are protesting against the occupying power: people are protesting against rapists and murderers.”

The Major Archbishop also spoke of the “deportation of Ukrainian citizens to an alien country”—a reference to Russia. “None of us knows what fate is awaiting them there.”