Following the US suspension of military aid to Ukraine, the bishops of the European Union, in a press release, ask member states to continue to provide financial assistance “to the victim of aggression: Ukraine”.
Newsroom (04/03/2025 17:39, Gaudium Press) A few days after the discussion between Volodymr Zelensky and Donald Trump in the Oval Office of the White House, the US government announced on Monday, March 3, the suspension of military aid to Kiev. Dialogue between Kiev and Washington thus appears to have broken down, despite the fact that the United States is the main provider of aid to the war-torn country, providing 64.1 billion euros in military aid to Ukraine in the space of three years, according to the Kiel Institute for the World Economy. Against this backdrop, the bishops of the European Union issued a statement calling on the Union and its member states to continue to help Ukraine in the face of Russia’s “unjustifiable large-scale invasion”.
The Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Union (COMECE) highlights the “humanitarian, political, economic, financial and military” support provided by “EU leaders” and many civil society organizations through “concrete gestures of solidarity”.
A few days before a special EU defense summit, scheduled for March 6, to discuss “security guarantees” for Ukraine, COMECE believes that the outcome of the war in Ukraine is not only a question of the future of this Eastern European country, but that it will be “decisive for the fate of the entire European continent and of a free and democratic world”. As they point out, “Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is a flagrant violation of international law. The use of force to alter national borders and the atrocious acts committed against the civilian population are not only unjustifiable, but demand a consequent search for justice and accountability.”
While they call for negotiations to achieve a “global, just and lasting peace”, this must not exclude Ukraine, “the victim of aggression”, and must involve “strong transatlantic and global solidarity”.
After more than three years of conflict, an eventual peace agreement cannot do without security guarantees to “prevent a recurrence of the conflict” and protect the rights of all communities in Ukraine, “including the Russian-speaking minority”. “The peace agreement must establish the necessary conditions for Ukrainian families to be able to reunite and live with dignity, security and freedom in their sovereign and independent homeland,” COMECE emphasizes.
With regard to reconstruction, the European bishops believe that the international community should be involved, as well as Russia, the “aggressor”. They are also calling for Ukraine’s integration into the European Union to be accelerated, something that Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, hopes will happen before 2030. This enlargement of the EU could allow it to “remain faithful to its vocation as a promise of peace and an anchor of stability in its neighbourhood and in the world.”
With Lent beginning on Wednesday, March 5, COMECE continues to entrust Ukraine and Europe to Our Lord Jesus Christ through the intercession of Mary, the “Queen of Peace”.
With information from COMECE and Vatican news
Compiled by Teresa Joseph
Related Images:
