Borys Gudziak: Ukrainians want peace, but we can’t ignore evil

Borys Gudziak, archbishop, the metropolitan-archbishop of the Ukrainian Catholic Archeparchy of Philadelphia

Source: America – The Jesuit Review

“War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength.”  – George Orwell, 1984.

By March 2025, the phrase “peace in Ukraine” had become as common as “war in Ukraine” was in February 2022. The pope, presidents, politicians of various affiliations, religious leaders and ordinary people now speak of peace.

After three years of a devastating and brutal war, Ukraine desperately needs peace. Civilians in Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia, Kryvyi Rih, and Odesa – cities constantly attacked by Russian guided bombs, drones and missiles – yearn for nights without fear and days without explosions and death. Ukrainian defenders entrenched in foxholes along the frontlines in Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia long for peace and the possibility of returning to their families and pre-war lives. Six million Ukrainian refugees and four million internally displaced persons dream of going home – if it still exists. They yearn to reunite with their loved ones in safety. No one desires peace more than Ukrainians, who continue to struggle against an aggressor who seeks to erase their existence.

So why do they keep fighting? Because they understand that peace will not be achieved if Ukraine ceases to defend its citizens, its territory and its dignity. Occupation is not peace. Russia has occupied some of Ukraine’s most densely populated industrial regions – 20 percent of the country, home to millions of Ukrainians. According to an Associated Press investigation, thousands of Ukrainian civilians are detained in a network of formal and informal prisons across Russia and the territories it occupies, where they endure torture, psychological abuse and even forced labor.

Recent revelations about the detention of the Ukrainian journalist Viktoria Roshchyna have horrified the world. Arrested while reporting from occupied territories, she perished in a Russian prison, and her body remains in the hands of Russian authorities. Ukrainian officials working to recover the bodies of civilians who died in Russian captivity report that 80 percent of those bodies bear signs of mistreatment and torture. Again, these are not prisoners of war but civilians.

Two Ukrainian Catholic priests, Redemptorists, spent 18 months in Russian captivity after being falsely accused of espionage. Their release was secured only through the painstaking mediation of the Holy See. But how many others remain in captivity? When we speak of peace in Ukraine, we must keep them in mind. What does peace mean for them?

Some voices advocate for immediate peace at any cost, disregarding the aggressor’s genocidal intent and the long-term consequences of a hasty, ill-considered settlement. But the world – and both political and religious leaders – must reject the illusion of a pacifism that ignores the harsh realities of evil and injustice.

Ukrainians have walked this path before. Over its first two decades of independence, Ukraine reduced its military personnel by 90 percent, from 900,000 troops to some 15,000 battle-ready soldiers in 2014, when the Russians first attacked. In 1994, it set a historic precedent by completely dismantling the third largest nuclear arsenal in the world in exchange for security guarantees then freely offered by the United States, the United Kingdom and Russia. Ukraine had more nuclear warheads than the United Kingdom, France and China combined. It gave it all up because it was not interested in war. Today, the security guarantees Ukraine received are worth less than the paper they were written on.

As people of faith, we are called to look beyond seemingly insurmountable challenges and seek pathways to peace. The Lord calls us to peace. The commandment echoes through the ages: “Thou shalt not kill.” We bear responsibility for both peace and hope.

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