Americans Cannot Ignore Ukraine Conflict, Pastor Warns

While the propaganda war escalates, Ukrainian Pastor Anton Kaluzhny, who is helping to coordinate aid and humanitarian relief among evangelical churches in Ukraine, says it is the Russian government that is lying as it seeks to defend its invasion of its neighbor--and that Americans must pay attention. In this interview with The New American magazine's Alex Newman for Conversations That Matter, Kaluzhny says that the Russian government seeks to subjugate and ultimately destroy the Ukrainian nation and its 50 million people as its KGB-affiliated religious leaders work to expand their role. Even though Kaluzhny concedes that there are serious problems with the Ukrainian government and its leadership such as support for abortion, the pastor argues that Christians are working to promote freedom and traditional morality--and that unlike in Russia, Ukranian authorities do and must respond to the will of the people.

In the interview, Kaluzhny also discusses the role of the church in Ukrainian society, and its role in the war, especially through its network for providing humanitarian relief. The famous German Pastor Bonhoffer, who resisted the Nazi regime, is an inspiration to many Ukrainian Christians right now. Still, it is a tough time for the church in Ukraine. In Russia, meanwhile, the Russian Orthodox Church continues to be under the influence of a "former" KGB agent who remains part of the security services, he said.