Kyiv, Ukraine: Prisoners exchanged between Ukraine and Russia

Kyiv, Ukraine: Kyiv, Ukraine: Ukraine and Russia said on Saturday that clergy were among dozens of soldiers and civilians captured earlier this week. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said two Ukrainian Greek Catholic priests held captive in Moscow-occupied Berdyansk were returned to Ukraine thanks to mediation by the Vatican. Meanwhile, Russia said a high-ranking Ukrainian Orthodox cleric was handed over to Moscow along with two other clergy.

Churches have been greatly affected by the war, with Kiev’s Orthodox Orthodox The church has cut ties with Moscow and Ukraine and regularly accuses clergy of treason. Moscow and Kiev swapped 90 prisoners of war and some civilians earlier this week. Speaking at an event in Kiev, Zelensky named two released Ukrainian Greek Catholic priests as Bogdan Geleta and Ivan Levitsky and said they were preaching in Berdyansk.

Bediansk, on the Sea of ​​Azov, was captured by Russian forces in February 2022 in the first days of the invasion. Zelensky said the priests had been detained by the Russians since November 16, 2022. He said they were freed “thanks to the efforts of our team and the mediation of the Vatican, for which I am particularly grateful.” Pope Francis Pope Francis had expressed hope for a “normal” prisoner exchange between the two countries earlier this year.

Metropolitan Ionafan, a Ukrainian Orthodox priest assigned to Moscow, was convicted in August 2023 of justifying Russian aggression and faces five years in prison.Moscow Ombudsman Tatiana Moskalkova Moskalkova said Ionafan was received in Moscow by Patriarch Kirill, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church. He added that two other Orthodox clergymen who had been with the Moscow Patriarch at the time of the church’s split were also handed over to Russia during the exchange.