Politics & Diplomacy
Zelensky meets Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew in Istanbul and says Russia has killed about 120 clergy
Volodymyr Zelensky met Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew in Istanbul on October 31, congratulating him on 35 years since his enthronement. The same day he accused Russia of deliberately killing about 120 clergy and damaging some 800 religious buildings.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky met Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew in Istanbul on Saturday, October 31, after his talks with Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Zelensky congratulated the Patriarch on 35 years since his enthronement, an anniversary that falls on November 2, and briefed him on Kyiv’s diplomatic efforts.
Earlier that day, in the talks with the Turkish president, Zelensky had agreed to work jointly on the Black Sea grain corridor and had met Turkish energy companies, from which he expects increased deliveries of generators and other energy equipment.
Peace, energy and Oleshky on the agenda
In a post after the meeting, the Ukrainian president wrote that he spoke to Bartholomew about the efforts made jointly with Ukraine’s partners for peace, including contacts with the American side. He described the situation in the country and the continuing Russian strikes on energy infrastructure and on everything that ensures citizens’ daily lives.
The discussion also covered the humanitarian operation in occupied Oleshky, from where people were evacuated via Anapa and Belarus. Zelensky called it a “very important result” and said he hoped the world would press Russia so that such de-escalation steps are extended. He thanked the Patriarch for his “consistent public position”, his support for Ukraine and his prayers for peace.
“About 120 clergy dead”
The same day Zelensky published an excerpt from an interview with the programme “This Week on Capitol Hill”, in which he accused Russia of having killed about 120 clergy. The deaths, he claimed, were deliberate, the result of targeted attacks on these people, on churches and on other religious institutions.
According to the Ukrainian president, about 800 religious buildings have been destroyed or damaged, some of them a thousand years old, hit en masse by drones and by cruise and ballistic missiles. “It is horror and madness,” he said, stressing that it is not a matter of money but concerns the country’s heritage, history, art and architecture, which “cannot simply be repaired”. He added that the loss is very painful for everyone and above all for the clergy.
