Précisions sur l’indépendance de l’Archevêché survenue le 30 décembre 1965

We, participants of the Kiev Interfaith Forum’s Board meeting convened in Kharkiv, Ukraine – representatives of Christian, Jewish and Muslim communities, religious and civil society activists from Ukraine and different parts of the world, state our common desire to contribute to peace restoration in Ukraine.

We fully support President of Ukraine Mr. Poroshenko’s peace plan, Ukrainian government and Parliament’s peace initiatives and other constructive proposals aimed to stop external aggression and cease fire in the Eastern Ukraine.

We want to state that Ukrainian society was and is still ruled by the principles of interfaith and interethnic understanding and all problems are being solved in the spirit of cooperation and tolerance.

We strongly reject any attempts to use religious and national slogans to inflict hate between people, justify aggression and other actions against Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.

Acknowledging truth as one of the highest values, we condemn dissemination of untrue and fake information about Ukraine.

Mission of religious leaders, all people of faith and all people of good will are to help to restore peace in Ukraine.

We call upon world religious leaders Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, Pope Francis, Patriarch Kirill of Moscow, other religious leaders and followers to pray for Ukraine and by all possible means influence politicians and society in order to stop aggression against Ukraine and bloodshed on her land.

We call upon all countries and first of all the Russian Federation to respect Ukraine’s unity, integrity and sovereignty in its internationally recognized borders.

We call upon all who violated Ukrainian law and took up arms to lay down their weapons and to start a peaceful political dialogue.

We support all humanitarian actions to relieve fate of displaced people, express our sympathy to relatives of the fallen and are wishing soon recovery to the wounded.

Our meeting, in which respected representatives of international organizations, among them “Religions for Peace” which operates in more than 90 countries and European Council of Religious Leaders, have participated, is serving as another example of international solidarity with Ukraine. We believe that with combined efforts of Ukraine’s religious and civic leaders, with the support of people of good will in the world, peace and understanding will prevail again in Ukraine.