Following President Trump’s announcement that Ukraine and Russia will begin immediate ceasefire talks, it remains to be seen whether Vladimir Putin will negotiate in good faith or if he is biding his time for a summer offensive.
The recent negotiations in Istanbul, the first since early 2022, began a day after a Russian missile killed two civilians and injured nine in Sumy. In this city, just weeks earlier Russian bombs massacred 35 churchgoers on Palm Sunday. A day after the talks, Russia killed nine civilians on a bus in Sumy. Putin’s intentions seem clear.
These talks collapsed after Russia demanded Ukraine withdraw from its sovereign territory in Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia — including areas that remain under Ukrainian control. This is a non-starter for Ukraine, and it would be for any other country.
Diplomacy is the most effective path to peace, and it’s constructive that the two parties are engaging in negotiations. However, the United States, European Union and international community, which play a critical role in ending this conflict, must be clear-eyed about the stakes.
Ukraine is not negotiating over lines on a map but for the rights and lives of millions of Ukrainians who suffer under brutal Russian occupation. These are not abstract territories; they are families and communities with churches, grocery stores and schools that Russia is seeking to erase, Russify and absorb illegally.
Nowhere is this erasure more visible than Russia’s effort to destroy Christian communities, targeting the faith and freedom of more than 2.5 million Christians living under Russian occupation.
Since Russia’s full-scale invasion, Russia has destroyed more than 650 Ukrainian churches, killed 47 faith leaders, 22 of whom were Evangelical or Protestant, and tortured, imprisoned and sought to silence countless more. There are reportedly no more Catholic priests in Russian-occupied Ukraine.
While filming “A Faith Under Siege,” a documentary that chronicles the plight of Ukrainian Christians, the film team heard firsthand accounts of believers who were beaten, tortured and terrorized by Russian forces. The stories are harrowing.
The contrast between Christians living in Ukraine and those under Russian control is stark. Ukraine guarantees the right to religious freedom. As he told Ben Shapiro in a recent interview, Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, regularly meets with the All-Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organizations, demonstrating his commitment to his citizens of faith. He ended his annual Easter message with “Christ is Risen! He is Risen Indeed!” in solidarity with the 85 percent of Ukrainians who are Christian. Ukraine has also established a chaplain corps, a national prayer breakfast, and a national day of prayer.
Critics argue that Ukraine has attacked religious freedom by passing legislation banning the Russian Orthodox church and forcing the Kremlin-influenced Ukrainian Orthodox Church to sever ties with Moscow, but this has everything to do with national security, not theology. The Ukrainian Orthodox Church has served as a mouthpiece for Kremlin propaganda. Some of its clergy have actively supported Russia’s war, an untenable situation for a nation battling for its very survival. Ukraine has every right to force it to sever ties with a state bent on its destruction.
Walking the streets of Kyiv, Kherson or Lviv on Saturday or Sunday makes it clear: Ukrainians can practice their faith freely. That freedom is precisely what Russia is seeking to destroy. To Putin, faith is not a right but a threat to his control.
When asked why Russia hates Ukrainian Christians, one man interviewed answered quickly: “Because they are afraid. Our Church never wants to be under a communist party, under the KGB or a dictatorship regime,” he said. “Russia is persecuting Evangelicals because we have just one leader — Jesus Christ.”
Putin targets believers because they will never bow down to him.
The world knows what would happen if Russia seizes more Ukrainian territory — either in negotiations or by force. More churches will be reduced to rubble, more Christians will be tortured, imprisoned or killed, and more families will be torn apart.
As negotiations continue, we must remember this is not just a fight over territory, but a fight over freedom.
