Shevchuk condemns Ukrainians evading mobilization

Sviatoslav Shevchuk. Photo: UGCC

The head of the UGCC Sviatoslav Shevchuk stated that draft evasion is a failure to fulfill civic duty. He said this in an interview with the outlet "Livyi Bereh" ("Left Bank").

The journalist asked the head of the Uniates how the Church interprets draft evasion against the backdrop of a personnel shortage in the army, and whether the actions of draft evaders constitute a sin. Shevchuk replied that he "does not want to condemn anyone a priori," but immediately passed judgment on such people.

"We support the Armed Forces of Ukraine and constantly explain that draft evasion is a failure to fulfill one's civic duty," he said.

According to Shevchuk, the UGCC would like the TRC not to have to use force against Ukrainians but for draftee to go to the front voluntarily.

"We want our men and women, without pressure but by the call of their own conscience, love for the Homeland, and the duty to defend it, to join the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine," the head of the UGCC added.

He also mentioned that the Uniate structure has received quotas for chaplaincy positions in the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the National Guard, and the Border Guard, and is gradually distributing them among its priests. At the same time, a priest himself, according to Shevchuk, "cannot take up arms," and therefore "must hold a different line of defense."

As the UOJ reported, Shevchuk admitted to hiding men working for the UGCC from mobilization. During a live broadcast, a fragment of which was later cut from the recording, he complained to OCU "hierarch" Oleksandr Drabynko about a shortage of craftsmen for completing the iconostasis and said: "We even hide some of them here with us. They live here and we feed them as well."

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