In Sermon, Russian Church Leader Kirill Links Ukraine War With Gay Pride Parade

Kirill said in Sunday sermon that countries which do not accept western values are not considered part of the world.

Kirill, the Patriarch of Russian Orthodox Church, has blamed liberal western values, particularly gay pride parades, for Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The remarks justifying Ukraine's invasion were made in Sunday sermon. The head of the #Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill, said: "The war is going on because they don't want gay parades in the Donbas."I've never heard a worse excuse for killing children.And yes, when we win the war, I will visit the first 🏳️‍🌈 pride in #Donetsk.

Kirill is a longtime ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin and has so far refrained from criticising the Russian invasion.

"We have entered into a struggle that has not a physical, but a metaphysical significance," he said during the Forgiveness Sunday sermon.

Kirill then focused his attention on the situation in Donbas, the breakaway eastern region of Ukraine held since 2014 by pro-Russia separatist groups. He echoed Putin's unfounded claims that Ukraine was engaged in the "extermination" of Russian loyalists in Donbas.