In a statement released on March 17, Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk, the head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, said that “God is with us.”
“He is being crucified again by those who are shooting at us,” the Major Archbishop continued. “He is being condemned to death again by those religious leaders who are justifying this war. He is being laid in a tomb by those who are burying the inhabitants of Mariupol, Izium and other cities of Ukraine in mass graves.”

Major Archbishop Shevchuk asked Ukrainians not to pray for Vladimir Putin’s death and stated that “God himself will deal justly with all war criminals, most of all, Putin, in due time.”

“The Church teaches that we have a right to defend our Motherland,” the Major Archbishop’s statement continued. “Moreover, it is a natural right and a holy obligation. We are not speaking about a right to kill, but about the right to defend ourselves. Defense must be proportional to how an assailant attacks us.”