Appeal of the Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organizations
on the International Day of the disappeared
30 August
“To Remember, to Believe and Pray, and to Act”
On the International Day of the Disappeared, we, the members of the Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organizations, offer our prayers for those who have gone missing as a result of Russian aggression, for their families and loved ones, and we appeal to all those upon whom the fate of the missing depends and whom families continue to await at home. At the beginning of 2026, it was officially reported that there were more than 90,000 records in the Register of Missing Persons dating back to 2014. As of August 2026, according to the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, more than 114,000 civilians and military personnel are officially considered missing.
For Ukraine, such prayer carries particular significance. Russia’s war against our people has continued since 2014, and with it has come the tragedy of those who have disappeared. Since then, mothers and fathers, wives and husbands, children, brothers, and sisters have lived between hope and uncertainty. For some, this waiting has lasted months; for others, years; and for some, more than a decade.
Despite the different lengths of time involved in these searches, there are, in essence, no “old” and “new” disappearances. There are no less important names and no less important sorrows. Every human life is priceless; every person has a name; and every family has the right not to be forgotten.
Since the beginning of the war in 2014, the Churches and religious organizations of Ukraine have prayed together with the people, supported defenders, prisoners of war, those released from captivity, the families of the fallen, and those who have spent years waiting for news of their loved ones.
TO THE STATE
With respect for the immense responsibility borne by the Ukrainian state in this time of war, we call upon it to ensure that the search for every missing person remains a matter of national honor, human dignity, and moral duty.
Let us not allow the passage of time to divide families into those whose cases are considered “current” and those who have waited too long. A person who disappeared in 2014 deserves to have their fate established just as much as someone who disappeared recently, and their family deserves a comprehensive and competent answer.
We call upon the authorities to preserve the trust of families and to work in partnership with them. Trust is extraordinarily fragile. Where it is impossible to promise results, it is both possible and necessary to guarantee diligence in the search, respect, honesty, and steadfast support.
A state is strong not only when it is capable of protecting millions. It is also strong when it does not cease searching for one person—its daughter or son who has gone missing.
TO THE FAMILIES WHO WAIT
Dear mothers and fathers, wives and husbands, children, brothers and sisters of those from whom no news has come,
We know that no words can erase uncertainty. Therefore, today we do not seek to explain your pain. We wish to affirm something else: you should not have to bear it alone.
Your waiting has the right to hope. Your weariness has the right to be heard. Your questions have the right to be voiced. And your love for those you await needs no justification.
We address in a special way those families whose waiting began back in 2014. We remember you. Time has not made your pain smaller, nor has it lessened society’s obligations toward you. In the common prayers of Ukraine’s religious communities and faithful, your loved ones are not forgotten.
We will not tell you, “Stop waiting.” We will not say, “It is time to accept it,” while there is still no reliable answer. Instead, we say: may the Almighty grant you strength for each day, and may those around you have the wisdom not to leave you alone.
We do not pray instead of searching. We pray that the search will continue and succeed. We do not pray instead of human action. We pray that everyone upon whom answers depend may have the courage, conscience, and perseverance to do what is right.
TO THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY AND RELIGIOUS LEADERS OF THE WORLD
We appeal to international organizations, governments, humanitarian institutions, Churches, religious communities, and spiritual leaders around the world: do not allow the prolonged nature of this war to make the tragedy of the missing seem ordinary.
Behind every unknown fate stands not an abstract case, but a human life.
We urge you to use every available humanitarian, diplomatic, and legal mechanism to establish the fate of the missing, to protect prisoners of war, to facilitate the exchange of reliable information, to bring people home, and to return the bodies of the deceased for dignified burial.
We address religious leaders around the world in a particular way. The voice of faith must be heard where political language loses its power. Use your moral authority, international gatherings, and interreligious dialogue to remind the world that even war does not abolish the commandment of humanity. Families have the right to know. Prisoners have the right to dignity. The deceased have the right to be identified, to have their bodies returned with dignity, and to receive a proper burial.
We ask the world not to grow weary of Ukraine and not to grow weary of its human suffering. For a family that waits, the war does not become smaller simply because the world becomes accustomed to it.
TO OUR COMMUNITIES
We call upon clergy and believers of the various Christian denominations and religious traditions of Ukraine to stand especially close to affected families on this day. Let us remember in prayer those whose whereabouts remain unknown. Let us support those who wait. Let us find time for a personal visit, a telephone call, a word of encouragement, and a shared prayer.
May our churches, houses of worship, and religious communities remain places where people do not need to hide their weariness; where hope is not imposed but safeguarded; where every name is remembered; and where no one becomes merely a number in the statistics of war.
PRAYER
On this day, we bow our heads before human suffering, but we do not bow before indifference.
Today and every day, we ask the Almighty for the return of those who are alive; for the protection of those held in captivity; for the establishment of the fate of every missing person; for the dignified return of the bodies of the deceased; for strength for families; for wisdom for public officials; for conscience for those who hold information in their hands; and for perseverance for all who continue the search.
And we call upon everyone—to remember the missing and the pain of their loved ones not only on 30 August.
And for as long as a family waits—to stand beside them.
For before the Almighty Creator, no one is truly missing.
Every person is known and named, worthy of love, remembrance, and return.
Kyiv, August 29, 2026