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At the beginning of the Holy Week of Easter, on 13 April, the celebration of Palm Sunday in the Ukrainian city of Sumy was transformed into a day of lamentation, by yet another Russian missile attack.

As 24 February marks the third anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay noted with sadness that the war continues without any immediate signs of an end. 

During a European consultation on just peace, organized by the Conference of European Churches in cooperation with the Polish Ecumenical Council from 9-11 December, Peter Prove, director of the World Council of Churches (WCC) Commission of Churches on International Affairs, spoke about “A Pilgrimage of Justice, Reconciliation, and Unity” in the context of the ongoing war in Ukraine.

The World Council of Churches (WCC) Executive Committee, in a statement entitled “Yearning for Just Peace in Europe,” recalled with heavy hearts that the war in Ukraine has now passed 1,000 days. “Each of those days has been marked by the blood of so many civilians as well as combatants killed and maimed, the traumatic displacement of communities, and the destruction of homes, livelihoods, and civilian infrastructure,” the statement reads. “We reaffirm our Christian calling and desire for peace, and for the justice without which peace is unsustainable.”

World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay and WCC moderator Bishop Dr Heinrich Bedford-Strohm are urging caution with regard to a law passed by the Ukrainian Rada which bans the activities of religious organizations associated with Russia in Ukraine.

World Council of Churches general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay denounced the missile strikes on Kyiv and other densely populated areas of Ukraine, which killed at least 34 people, and which severely damaged two of the country’s main hospitals for children and women, including the country’s largest paediatrics facility.

The World Council of Churches (WCC) executive committee, in a minute on the escalation of the war in Ukraine, called for “an end to the invasion and occupation of Ukrainian territory, and the re-establishment of peace in the region.”

World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay, denounced the Russian missile strike on a hardware store in Kharkiv, Ukraine. 

The strike resulted in at least 14 deaths and 40 people wounded. 

During a World Council of Churches morning prayer—focusing on the churches and people of Belarus, Moldova, Russia, and Ukraine – a reflection by Prof. Dr Dmytro Tsolin focused on both the pain of the war in Ukraine as well as how we hang onto hope.

World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay, on behalf of WCC member churches, said that the WCC cannot reconcile the Decree of the XXV World Russian People's Council describing the conflict in Ukraine as a “Holy War.” 

His Beatitude Metropolitan Epiphany of Kyiv and All Ukraine visited the World Council of Churches (WCC) on 10 April at the request of the WCC general secretary, the Rev. Prof Dr Jerry Pillay, to discuss the current situation in Ukraine, the role of the Orthodox Church in Ukraine (OCU) in working toward peace, the continued involvement of the WCC in addressing the war, and the process for membership with the WCC. 

On the second anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, World Council of Churches general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay lamented the destruction of so many lives and called for an immediate end to the conflict.

World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay denounced the continuing Russian campaign to terrorize the people of Ukraine, “exemplified by yesterday’s missile attacks on several Ukrainian cities which resulted in at least 30 deaths and more than 160 wounded,” he said.

The World Council of Churches (WCC) is postponing a planned initial roundtable dialogue meeting on Ukraine, announced WCC general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay.