Ukrainian Quakers React to the War

“It is understandable that during the criminal Russian full-scale invasion of Ukraine and cruel treatment of Ukrainians in temporarily occupied territories, a vast majority of Ukrainian people, influenced by the [media], put their absolute and non-critical trust into the Armed Forces of Ukraine as defenders and liberators of our country. 

Though our faith community of Ukrainian Quakers, being advocates of nonviolent action, finds regrettable that nonviolent resistance to Russian aggression, marked by such impressive and heroic deeds as unarmed repulsion of Russian tanks by a crowd of civilian protesters in Koriukivka17, remains a matter of spontaneity and limited efforts of enthusiasts[….] The Government of Ukraine does not see nonviolent action among priorities in any short-term or long-term planning, does not provide any significant support to it, and attempts to subordinate it to the army, which undermines the ethical integrity and safety of nonviolent resistance.”

— Yurii Sheliazhenko, 2025
Clerk of Meeting of Friends of Ukraine