No one needs conflict in Donbas, it weakens all those involved - Patriarch Kirill
MOSCOW. Dec 25 (Interfax) - The conflict in Donbas weakens all its participants, Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia said, calling for a prompt peaceful solution to the problem.
"No one needs this conflict, it weakens all its participants," he told reporters following a meeting in Moscow with Alexander Zakharchenko, the head of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic, and Leonid Pasechnik, acting head of the Luhansk People's Republic.
"However, the primary thing is that this conflict is killing many people, and both sides need to make efforts to stop that," the patriarch said.
The patriarch called for "a prompt peaceful settlement of the problem associated with the military conflict in eastern Ukraine."
The patriarch also said that for the Russian Orthodox Church, the upcoming prisoner release "is a very important issue."
"We have flock there and we have flock there. Here are there, these are all our people. Who else could be as sad as the Russian church for everything that is happening, when a brother raises his hand against a brother!" the patriarch said.