The 400-year-old Bernardine Monastery and UNESCO World Heritage Site in “the center of Ukraine’s Catholic region” will need significant repairs following Russian attacks.
“It happens a lot,” said Steven Moore, executive producer of the war documentary.A faith under siegeTold “EWTN News Nightly” live from Kiev on March 25.
Russia launched missile attacks on March 24 which were shot down UNESCO protected The Bernardine Monastery and its St. Andrew’s Church.
Moore said the targeting of Christian churches in Ukraine – even Orthodox churches – by Russia is a regular occurrence. St. Andrew’s, a Ukrainian Greek Catholic church, “is probably the most historic church they’ve targeted so far,” he said.
Moore described Russia’s targeting of churches as part of the Kremlin’s “holy war”, noting that the Russian Orthodox Church and its Patriarch of Moscow Kirill act as an extension of the Kremlin.
“Their version of the Pope, Patriarch Kirill, has said, ‘If you die fighting in Ukraine, all your sins will be washed away,'” he said, citing Russian President Vladimir Putin. has described The Russian Orthodox Church has more in common with Islam than with Catholicism.
Interrelationship of Ukraine and Iran wars
Moore said there are concerns that a war involving Iran would send oil prices higher, which would lead to increased revenue streams for Russia – “a gas station with an army” – that Putin could use against the Ukrainians.
“Right now we are in a mess as a world,” he said, referring to the wars in the Middle East and Ukraine. He added, “And you know, China is supporting all this.” “North Korea is waiting to move into South Korea; thousands of North Korean troops are fighting in Ukraine right now.”
“However, the good news about this incursion into Iran is that the Iranians are supplying drones, these martyred drones, to the Russians, and that will limit their ability to cooperate with the Russians in the future,” he said.
Martyr drones are unmanned combat aerial vehicles developed by Iran.
Ukrainians have sent drone experts to help Middle Eastern countries deal with these Russian drone attacks. Moore said, “American weapons are made with innovation cycles of months or years. Here in Ukraine, the innovation cycle is days or weeks. And they are fighting in Ukraine against the same weapons that Russia has sent to Iran.” “No one in the world at the moment is as good at drone warfare and anti-drone warfare as the Ukrainians.”
Moore also noted the Trump administration’s toppling of the Russian ally Venezuelan regime, as well as Syria.
“When we’re looking at a global war, it’s actually a positive thing in the long run for the bad guys to remove pieces from the board,” he said.
