In April, Russia claimed that Ukraine had attacked a civilian bus in a Russian-occupied area of Ukraine, killing nine people. Following the incident, Patriarch Kirill, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, offered his condolences. Kirill observed, “I am convinced that the cynical act committed by the Kyiv regime should be qualified as a war crime that has neither justifications nor statutes of limitations.”
It’s unclear what actually happened. But considering that Ukraine has strict rules against targeting civilians, it’s highly unlikely that this was a deliberate Ukrainian attack. Assuming Russia did not entirely invent the attack, something it has done multiple times, Ukraine should provide any available details about the circumstances. Still, Kirill is the ultimate hypocrite. As he condemns Ukraine, he anoints far worse, calculated Russian attacks on Ukrainian civilians.
