Agreement reached on humanitarian corridors for safe passage and humanitarian aid; The city of Kherson falls to the Russians; Mariupol on the south coast is under siege; Borodyanka, 60km northwest of Kyiv has been badly damaged in rocket attacks; Kharkiv in the east is pounded by heavy artillery; a 40 mile armoured convoy lies in wait outside Kyiv.
In a televised address, Putin described Ukraine’s leaders as neo-Nazis and gangsters, using people as human shields — the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky is Jewish; his grandfather fought the Nazis in the Second World War and many of his family were killed by Nazis in the Holocaust.
Emergency appeal for one million refugees fleeing Ukraine
Cafod, Christian Aid, Islamic Relief, Tear Fund and World Vision are among the 15 charities who have launched the Disasters Emergency Appeal to raise funds for the one million people fleeing as refugees from Ukraine. Latest figures suggest there are at least 525 civilian casualties and 227 deaths. Christian Aid says it is working with the ACT Alliance, a global faith-based coalition, to offer assistance to refugees, distributing food and essentials for living.
Malteser International street kitchen for Ukrainian refugees
The Christian charity of the Order of Malta, Malteser International, has set up a kitchen on the main street in Lviv as refugees pour in from other parts of Ukraine, for the onward journey out to neighbouring countries to the west. Catholic volunteers from Ukraine offer hot drinks, food and blankets 24/7, as well as psychological help for stress.
UK communities organise to help refugees
The majority of refugees from Ukraine have fled to neighbouring countries, mainly Poland, and the papers are full of stories of Polish community centres across the UK overflowing with donations and offers of help. The Church Times reports on refugees arriving in Hungary and the efforts of churches to help.
Sacred landmarks at risk in Kyiv
The Associated Press reports fears that sacred sites in Kyiv will be destroyed in the invasion. It lists the landmarks as the golden domed St. Sophia’s Cathedral, the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra also known as the Monastery of the Caves, St. Michael’s Golden-Domed Monastery and St. Andrew’s Church.
Polish Catholic bishops appeal for end to senseless war
The president of Poland’s Catholic bishops’ conference has urged the head of the Russian Orthodox Church to ask President Vladimir Putin to stop the “senseless warfare” in Ukraine. The Catholic News Agency reports that Archbishop Stanisław Gądecki told Patriarch Kirill of Moscow in a letter, that Putin could stop the suffering of thousands of people with one word.
Split among Russian Orthodox after invasion
Religion Unplugged, an American non-profit organisation helping journalists report religion, carries a series of features on religion and the war in Ukraine, explaining the growing split within Orthodox Christianity between clergy opposed to the invasion and the leadership of the Russian Orthodox Church in Moscow. There is also analysis of the impact on orthodox Christianity in Ukraine, which has an independent church aligned to Constantinople and another still aligned to Moscow.
Prince pays tribute to bravery of people of Ukraine
The Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall visited the centre of Ukrainian Catholics in the UK to show solidarity with the people of Ukraine. At the cathedral in Mayfair, Prince Charles paid tribute to the “extraordinary bravery, generosity and fortitude of the Ukrainian community”.
