DUBAI: The head of Ukraine’s Orthodox church asked clergy and the faithful on Wednesday to forgo night Easter services in areas of the country affected by fighting, fearing Russian bombardments will continue during the Orthodox Easter period.
Metropolitan Epifaniy said in a televised address that he had little faith that a pause in shelling by Russian troops, proposed by the Ukrainian association of churches and religious communities for the duration of the Orthodox Christian Easter festivities, would hold.
“It is hard to believe this will really happen, because the enemy is trying to completely destroy us,” he said.
Ukrainian church leaders have been at odds with Russia since Ukraine formed a new Orthodox church in 2018, ending centuries of religious ties with Moscow. Both Ukrainians and Russians are predominantly Orthodox Christians.
The Orthodox Easter service starts late on Saturday into Sunday morning when a traditional feast begins.
Ukraine’s foreign ministry also said on Wednesday it was “grateful” for a separate initiative by the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres about a four-day Easter “humanitarian truce” that could begin on Thursday.
The truce was necessary for the safe evacuation of thousands of civilians from the areas of ongoing and possible hostilities, “especially from the long-suffering” city of Mariupol, it said.
Dozens of churches and other religious and cultural sites in Ukraine have been damaged or destroyed since Russia invaded the country on Feb 24. The Kremlin describes Russia’s actions as a “special military operation” to disarm Ukraine.
Epifaniy said the Easter service could be held in the morning or afternoon and that priests should try to avoid crowds in churches. The faithful can also watch broadcasts of Easter service on television or the Internet, he said.
Head of Ukraine’s Orthodox church asks faithful to forgo night Easter services
https://arab.news/2348k
Head of Ukraine’s Orthodox church asks faithful to forgo night Easter services
- Metropolitan Epifaniy said in a televised address that he had little faith that a pause in shelling by Russian troops would hold
- The Orthodox Easter service starts late on Saturday into Sunday morning when a traditional feast begins
US Justice Department official eyes cases against Cuba leaders as Trump floats ‘friendly takeover’
- “Working group” formed to build cases against people connected to the Cuban government
- Trump’s has increasingly displayed aggressive stance against Cuba’s communist leadership
MIAMI: The top Justice Department prosecutor in Miami is considering criminal investigations of Cuban government officials, according to people familiar with the matter. The inquiry comes as President Donald Trump has raised the possibility of a “friendly takeover” of the communist-run island.
Jason Reding Quiñones, the US attorney for the Southern District of Florida, has created a “working group” that includes federal prosecutors and officials from the Drug Enforcement Administration and other agencies to try to build cases against people connected to the Cuban government and its Communist Party, according to one of the people. They spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss the effort.
It was not immediately clear which Cuban officials the office is targeting or what criminal charges prosecutors may be looking to bring.
The Justice Department said in a statement Friday that “federal prosecutors from across the country work every day to pursue justice, which includes efforts to combat transnational crime.”
The effort is taking place against the backdrop of Trump’s increasingly aggressive stance against Cuba’s communist leadership.
Emboldened by the US capture of Cuba’s close ally, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, Trump last month said his administration was in high-level talks with officials in Havana to pursue “a friendly takeover” of the country. He repeated those claims this week, saying his attention would turn back to Cuba once the war with Iran winds down.
“They want to make a deal so bad,” Trump said of Cuba’s leadership.
While Cuba has faded from Washington’s radar as a major national security threat in recent decades, it remains a priority in the US Attorney’s office in Miami, whose political, economic and cultural life is dominated by Cuban-American exiles.
The FBI field office has a dedicated Cuba group that in 2024 was instrumental in the arrest of former US Ambassador Victor Manuel Rocha on charges of serving as a secret agent of Cuba stretching back to the 1970s.
In recent weeks, several Miami Republicans, in addition to Florida Sen. Rick Scott, have called on the Trump administration to reopen its criminal investigation into the 1996 shootdown of four planes operated by anti-communist exiles.
In a letter to Trump on Feb. 13, lawmakers including Reps. Maria Elvira Salazar and Carlos Gimenez highlighted decades-old news reports indicating that former President Raúl Castro — the head of Cuba’s military at the time — gave the order to shoot down the unarmed Cessna aircraft.
“We believe unequivocally that Raúl Castro is responsible for this heinous crime,” lawmakers wrote. “It is time for him to be brought to justice.”
While no indictment against Castro has been announced, Florida’s attorney general said this week that he would open a state-level investigation into the crime.
The Trump administration has also accused Cuba of not cooperating with American counterterrorism efforts, adding it alongside North Korea and Iran to a select few nations the US considers state sponsors of terrorism.
The designation stems from Cuba’s harboring of US fugitives and its refusal to extradite several Colombian rebel leaders while they were engaged in peace talks with the South American nation.
