Ukrainian archbishop: Minority faiths at risk if Russia wins

By PETER SMITH
Associated Press

The top-ranking Ukrainian Catholic cleric in the United States is warning that religious minorities stand to be “crushed” if Russia gains control of Ukraine. Archbishop Borys Gudziak says groups at risk include Catholics, Muslims and Orthodox who have broken away from the patriarch of Moscow. He also cites reports that Russia has damaged two Holocaust memorials and Moscow’s false portrayal of Ukraine as a “Nazi” state, when in fact it overwhelmingly elected a Jewish president. Gudziak said Thursday in an online discussion that what is at stake for the people of Ukraine is no less than “their freedom to practice their faith.”