Spiritual Valediction for the President on the Threshold of Another Round of Negotiations

In the evening of 4 December, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy invited the country’s spiritual leaders in order to hear their spiritual valediction on the threshold of a very important and difficult meeting in the Normandy format. Speaking about the event, Mufti Said Ismagilov noted that the guests spoke in turns, and recalled the main thesis of his own speech:

— When given word, I mentioned first of all that we all wished Mr.President wisdom and great patience, for that would be very important negotiations closely monitored by the whole nation, as well as Ukrainian expats.  I called the President for the most important thing: that he, as Protector of the Constitution, firmly stood for Ukraine’s national interest. I said that we, on our part, would be praying for his success in the negotiations.

Sheikh Said also noted that Crimea and Donbas belonged to Ukraine, and that religious organisations and churches supported the concept of a traditional family, consisting of a man and wife.

The Mufti said that he really liked the patriotic frame of mind of the other religious leaders. Almost everyone spoke about Ukraine’s national interests, about the Ukrainian Crimea and Donbas, about persecutions the believers face on the territories occupied by Russia. In particular, they mentioned court decisions on confiscation of property and real estate from churches, namely the Cathedral in Simferopol that belonged to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine.