On the night of July 30 to 31, Russian terrorists launched another attack on the Ukrainian capital, resulting in the deaths and injuries among peaceful residents of Kyiv, including women and children, as well as the destruction of civilian infrastructure and residential buildings.
The terrorists deliberately targeted residential areas, healthcare and educational institutions, as well as cultural and spiritual establishments. The Iskander missile caused significant damage to the Main Mosque of the Religious Administration of Muslims of Ukraine (UMMA).
The russian invaders continue to enlarge the list of religious buildings they have destroyed or damaged – with churches, synagogues, mosques, and places of worship for believers of various spiritual traditions among those affected. Sacred sites remain a particular target of the occupiers’ wrath, as they loathe religious freedom and people of faith, and are determined to eliminate, at any cost, the foundations of human dignity, justice, and the aspiration toward the sacred.
Recently, the Cathedral of Saint Sophia, where the Oranta extends her hands in prayerful protection of Kyiv, was subjected to shelling. And on this night, the Mosque – representing the spiritual aspirations of Muslims from diverse ethnic backgrounds, for whom Ukraine is their Homeland, the country they defend and pray for – was targeted.
Russia continues its war against Islam. It consigns to death members of subjugated peoples who traditionally practice this religion; it detains hundreds of Crimean Muslims who refuse to recognize the occupying authorities and their appointed pseudo-religious officials, subjecting them to imprisonment, detention camps, and torture. It confiscates the Quran from prisoners of war and abuses their religious beliefs. The Islamic world must come to understand that Ukraine is fighting not only for its own freedom but also for the liberty and dignity of the global Islamic Ummah. Ukraine calls on Muslims across the world to unite against the global evil embodied by present-day russia, the most brutal colonizer of the 21st century, which brings oppression and death.
