'Talked about faith': Ukrainian Roman Catholics met with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Washington, D.C

on February 4, 2026, representatives of the RCC in Ukraine met with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio as part of Ukrainian Week in Washington, DC. The talks, held within the walls of the State Department, were devoted to issues of faith, contemporary challenges, and the situation in the Russian-Ukrainian war.

According to News IO, during the meeting the parties paid special attention to the issues of compliance with international law and the protection of the Ukrainian people from aggression. The head of Kyiv-Zhytomyr diocese of the Roman Catholic Church Vitaliy Kryvitsky, one of the participants of the conversation, said: “We talked about faith, about the challenges of our time, about Ukraine and the senseless war that the Russian Federation has unleashed against our people and international law”.

As a sign of steadfastness and courage of Ukrainians in extremely difficult conditions of war, Vitaliy Kryvytskyy handed Marco Rubio a symbolic gift – a box of chocolates made in Dnipro. In turn, Secretary of State Marco Rubio emphasized his unwavering support for Ukraine, saying that he prays daily for the Ukrainian people and makes every effort to establish a just peace. In response, the Ukrainian delegation promised its prayerful support to the American diplomat and called on everyone to join the common prayer.

We shall remind you that earlier we reported that the head of the State Service of Ukraine for Ethnopolitics and Freedom of Conscience, Viktor Yelenskyy, complained that the Ukrainian Orthodox Church was trying to get the USA to impose personal sanctions against him. The official believes that this way he is being pressured and Ukraine is being discredited.