Shevchuk: Russian attack on Kyiv children’s hospital “a sin that cries out for revenge”

(OSV News) – A Russian attack on a children’s hospital and other civilian targets in Ukraine on July 8 was “a sin that cries out to heaven for vengeance,” said the head of the Greek Catholic Church in Ukraine.

At least 31 people were killed and more than 135 injured when Russian bombers attacked the Ukrainian capital Kyiv and numerous cities across the country with more than 40 missiles and guided bombs.

Among the affected locations was the Okhmatdyt Children’s Hospital in Kyiv, where two adults died and 16 were injured, including seven children.

Lviv Mayor Andriy Sadovyi reported on his X-account (formerly Twitter) that one of these adult victims was 30-year-old Svitlana Lukyanchuk, a Lviv-born pediatric nephrologist.

As rescue operations continue, the number of victims is expected to rise. July 9 has been declared a day of mourning in Kyiv.

Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk, head of the Greek Catholic Church in Ukraine, issued a statement on July 8 condemning the strike.

“In the name of God, we condemn this crime against humanity with all our might,” he said. “This is not only a crime against human laws and rules, international rules that inform us of the customs and rules of warfare. According to Christian morality, this is a sin that cries out to heaven for vengeance.”

Associated Press footage of the attack showed dozens of people digging through the rubble to rescue survivors and bandaged hospital patients being carried to shelter in their mothers’ arms.

In response to the attack on civilian infrastructure, which is prohibited under international humanitarian law, Ukrainian President Volodmyr Zelenskyy has called an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council.

Major Archbishop Shevchuk lamented that children who had come to the hospital for life-saving treatment – ​​some of them had to undergo kidney surgery or other medical procedures – “were mercilessly killed by Russian criminals”.

His statement, posted on the website of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, included an image from Ukraine’s public broadcaster Suspilne showing a surviving patient at the children’s hospital being carried in a woman’s arms. The child is covered in blood and dust, medical tubes and bands dangling as a bloodied doctor looks on.

“We saw how the doctors saved lives despite their blood-stained faces,” the archbishop said, adding that medical staff and volunteers were digging through the rubble of the hospital “to save the children whose hearts are beating there under the rubble.”

“Today we cry with all the victims,” ​​said Major Archbishop Shevchuk. “Today we want to pray for all the dead, especially for the innocent children who were killed. Today we want to envelop all the injured, all those who are currently suffering the most, with our Christian love.”

He concluded his statement with a prayer “for the protection and victory of the lives of our children and women.”

“Merciful God, bless our suffering Ukrainian land with your just peace,” said Major Archbishop Shevchuk.

Two employees of the Russian embassy in Washington, whom we reached by phone on July 8, did not want to comment on the attack to OSV News. One of them promised to ask “colleagues” in the embassy’s press center about a possible statement. OSV News does not yet have this information.

Two joint reports by the New Lines Institute and the Raoul Wallenberg Center for Human Rights find that the Russian invasion – which continues attacks that began in 2014 – amounts to genocide. Ukraine reports more than 135,141 war crimes committed by Russia in Ukraine as of February 2022.

During its recent meeting in Bucharest, Romania, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) adopted a resolution recognizing Russia’s ten-year aggression against Ukraine as genocide.

Gina Christian is a multimedia reporter for OSV News. Follow her on X (formerly Twitter) at @GinaJesseReina.