Ukrainian religious leaders met with the director of the Dutch peacebuilding organization PAX, Rolin Sasse. The meeting was held in Kyiv on September 1 with the assistance of the Institute for Religious Freedom, a Kyiv-based partner of PAX.
Representatives of different denominations told the PAX leadership about the participation of churches and religious organizations in countering Russian aggression. For example, religious communities are involved in providing charitable and social assistance to the victims and those in need as a result of the war. The meeting participants discussed ways to achieve victory, establish a just peace in Ukraine, and respond to possible challenges to the country's post-war reconstruction.
They also discussed the results of a project to monitor and document Russian war crimes against religious leaders and local communities, primarily in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine. Since 2022, this project has been implemented by the Institute for Religious Freedom with the support of PAX.
One of the results of the research was the report "The Russian Attacks on Religious Freedom in Ukraine," which the IRF presented at international events in the United States, the United Kingdom, Poland, Nepal, etc.
The meeting was attended by representatives of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, the Roman Catholic Church in Ukraine, the All-Ukrainian Union of Churches of Evangelical Christians-Baptists, the Ukrainian Pentecostal Church, and the Institute for Religious Freedom.