It was possible to return two UGCC priests from Russian captivity thanks to the mediation of the Vatican.
This was stated by President Vladimir Zelensky during a speech at the National Prayer Breakfast.
The Vatican helped free Ukrainian priests
The head of state noted that the other day we managed to complete a task that seemed almost impossible to many. We are talking about the return from Russian captivity of 90 of our soldiers and ten civilians.
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— And among them Christian priests — Bogdan Geletu and Ivan Levitsky. They are here with us now. I would really like us to congratulate them all. We thank you very much for the strength and dignity with which you have walked this path, through all this, — said the President.
Zelensky noted that Bohdan Geleta and Ivan Levitsky carried the word of God in Berdyansk, in the parish of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary of the UGCC. On November 16, 2022, the occupiers captured them and have held them in captivity since then.
— Thanks to the efforts of our team and the mediation of the Vatican, for which I am especially grateful, thank you very much, it was possible to return them to freedom. We believed that this would succeed. We worked for this.
And you and I must also not give up and fight to bring home everyone, all our people who are still in Russian captivity, all Ukrainian children who were kidnapped in the occupied territory and deported by force to Russia, — said the President.
On Friday, June 28, it became known that Ukraine had released ten civilians from Russian captivity. Among them — Deputy Chairman of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People Nariman Dzhelal, Elena Pekh and Valery Matyushenko, two priests from Berdyansk and five civilians captured on the territory of Belarus.
