"Give everyone an opportunity to leave Mariupol!" - Primate of the UOC MP addresses Putin

The document's text was shared by the Information and Educational Department of the UOC-MP. Full text of the appeal:

"Mr. President!

On these Easter days, when the Feast of the triumph of life over death is supplemented by the day of victory over Nazism, I am appealing to you regarding the situation of the city of Mariupol.

The plight of the residents and defenders of Mariupol encourages me to turn to you as a person whose family survived the siege of Leningrad and whose older brother Viktor died in 1942. Your family had once fully experienced what life is like in isolation from the mainland, under continuous bombardment, without food, water and medicine, when death can occur at any moment from super-powerful weapons, hunger or lack of medical care. You remember this when you refer to the Great Patriotic War and when you visit the Piskarovsky cemetery – the place of mass graves of the inhabitants of besieged Leningrad and its defenders.

Residents of Mariupol and its defenders are in a similar situation today. It is my pastoral duty to ask you to allow anyone willing – both civilians and military personnel – to leave the city of Mariupol. In various wars, the opposing sides found a possible manifestation of humanism at all times. We know that Russia has repeatedly acted as a mediator in Syria during the evacuation of combatants who were surrounded. In this regard, we hope that, as a Christian, you will agree to the Extraction operation for the Ukrainian garrison in Mariupol and allow civilians, police, border guards and military personnel who are under siege to enter the territory controlled by Ukraine or the territory of third countries. Many countries consider it an honor to mediate this operation. In the name of the Risen Christ, I implore you to choose any of them."