[World Council of Churches] A delegation from the World Council of Churches is visiting Ukraine on May 10-12 to renew relations with churches and religious organizations and to explore possibilities of joint efforts to achieve just peace in Ukraine.

The delegation is Bishop Heinrich Bedford-Strohm, moderator of the central committee; Archbishop Vicken Aykazian, vice-moderator of the central committee; and the Rev. Jerry Pillay, World Council of Churches general secretary. The delegation is accompanied by Peter Prove, the council’s director of the Commission of the Churches for International Affairs, and Vasile-Octavian Mihoc, program executive for ecumenical relations and faith and order.

World Council of Churches representatives last visited Ukraine in August 2022, when they held a number of formal meetings and visited the besieged country to listen to the representatives of local churches, as well as state institutions working with religious issues, and to ensure the participation of Ukraine’s churches at the World Council of Churches assembly in August and September 2022.

During the latest visit, the delegation — aiming to receive a full picture of the current situation in Ukraine in the religious field — will have a number of formal meetings with representatives of Ukrainian churches as well as with other representatives.