"Communists tortured our priests in the past, and now rushists do the same," - the Head of the UGCC

His Beatitude Sviatoslav stated this in his video address, the Information Department of the UGCC reports.

The Head of the UGCC expressed gratitude to all those who contributed to releasing the Ukrainian clergymen from captivity: "On behalf of our Church and my own, I want to express my gratitude to His Holiness Pope Francis, who personally participated in the release of our Redemptorist Fathers Bohdan and Ivan. Despite serious obstacles, as their imprisonment lasted for more than a year and a half, the efforts of Vatican diplomacy were successful."

"The emotions that overwhelm us when we look into the faces of these heroes can be expressed in the words of the Ukrainian poet Oleksandr Oles: "Joy embracing sorrow...". We feel joy because our heroes are alive and sorrow because of the pain we see in their faces when we embrace these passionate people and witness what the Russian torturers did to them in that dreadful prison," said His Beatitude Sviatoslav.