‘Be strong and have courage in your hearts’: Boris Johnson addresses Ukrainians in his Easter message as he highlights triumph of good over evil and life over death
- Boris Johnson sends Ukrainians Easter message of hope and ‘good over evil’
- The Prime Minister is now banned from entering Russia after Kremlin sanctions
- The conflict was addressed in messages from Keir Starmer and Pope Francis too
Boris Johnson addressed Ukrainians in his Easter message today, remarking that ‘Christ’s message of hope the triumph of life over death and good over evil will resonate this year perhaps more than any other’.
The Prime Minister, who is now banned from entering Russia following the Kremlin’s sanctions on a dozen other British government members and politicians, told Christians around the world to ‘be strong and have courage in your heart’.
He added: ‘Easter tells us that there is light beyond the darkness, that beyond the suffering lies redemption.’
Boris Johnson addressed Ukrainians in his Easter message today, remarking that ‘Christ’s message of hope the triumph of life over death and good over evil will resonate this year perhaps more than any other’
The prime minister also tweeted out an Easter message in Ukrainian today, following a post yesterday in which he vowed to send more aid to Volodymyr Zelensky
Moscow has meanwhile accused Britain, with Johnson making a surprise visit to Ukraine last week, of ‘deliberately aggravating the situation surrounding Ukraine, pumping the Kyiv regime with lethal weapons and coordinating similar efforts on the behalf of NATO’ and threatened to expand its sanctions list ‘soon’.
The prime minister also tweeted out an Easter message in Ukrainian today, following a post yesterday in which he vowed to send more aid to Volodymyr Zelensky.
It said: ‘I updated my friend @ZelenskyyUa this afternoon on further military aid we will provide to Ukraine in the coming days.
‘The UK will stop at nothing to ensure Ukrainians have the resources they need to defend their country from the ongoing Russian onslaught.’
Keir Starmer’s message also touched on the conflict and themes of overcoming adversity.
The Labour leader said, in his address to ‘Christians around the world’: ‘I know you draw inspiration from the life of Jesus and the Easter story which is a message of overcoming adversity and of hope. Of light overcoming darkness.
The Prime Minister told Christians around the world to ‘be strong and have courage in your heart’
Labour leader Keir Starmer’s message also touched on the conflict and themes of overcoming adversity
‘And at this pivotal time, when Europe is at war and people are facing greater poverty at home, hope is more important than ever.
‘Thank you and Happy Easter.’
Yesterday Pope Francis called for ‘gestures of peace in these days marked by the horror of war’ in an Easter vigil homily in St Peter’s Basilica attended by the mayor of the occupied Ukrainian city of Melitopol.
Ivan Fedorov was abducted and held for five days by Russian troops after they occupied Melitopol, a strategic southern city.
A man stands in a building with a collapsed facade after the site was hit by overnight Russian strikes, in the town of Vyshneve, near Kyiv, on April 15, 2022
Communal workers clear buildings destroyed following bombardment, killing two people and injuring eighteen others, in Kharkiv on Saturday
Francis noted that while ‘many writers have evoked the beauty of starlit nights…nights of war, however, are riven by streams of light that portend death’.
He did not refer directly to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, but he has called for an Easter truce in order to reach a negotiated peace.
Francis also addressed Mr Fedorov and Ukrainian legislators Maria Mezentseva, Olena Khomenko and Rusem Umerov, who sat all together in the front row.
He said: ‘In this darkness of war, in the cruelty, we are all praying for you and with you this night. We are praying for all the suffering.
‘We can only give you our company, our prayer.’
Francis added that ‘the biggest thing you can receive: Christ is risen’. He spoke the last three words in Ukrainian.
The messages of hope come as Zelensky last night warned that Russia is willing to use nuclear weapons to bring a catastrophic end to its invasion of Ukraine.
He urged the world to ‘prepare’ for the worst by stocking up on anti-radiation medicine and building air raid shelters.
The comedian-turned-war time leader made the doomsday warning during an interview with national media, before sharing the clip via his Telegram channel.
He made a similar announcement on Friday, when he said it could not be ruled out that Vladimir Putin would use tactical nukes, as his war against Ukraine continues to stall.
On Saturday Russia resumed missile and rocket attacks on Kyiv, western Ukraine and beyond in a stark reminder that the whole country remains under threat.
Today Ukraine and Russia failed to agree about humanitarian convoys for the evacuation of civilians from war-affected areas, Ukraine’s deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk has said.
‘We have not been able to agree…about ceasefires on evacuation routes. That is why, unfortunately, we are not opening humanitarian corridors today,’ she said on her Telegram account.
She added that the Ukrainian authorities have asked for humanitarian corridors for the evacuation of civilians and wounded Ukrainian troops from the besieged port of Mariupol.
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