What the Soviet Union could not achieve, what Russian, Iranian, Chinese and other authoritarian regimes could only dream of, could only dream about has been accomplished by the American presidential administration: the silencing of America's 83-year-old service of media support for democracy, international law and justice and the defense of human rights.

Metropolitan Borys Gudziak wrote about this on his Facebook page. According to him, for decades, repressed peoples could count on the Voice of America (VOA) to provide accurate information about American and world affairs. “Some of the international journalists working for VOA have visas based on the contracts that have now been voided. Some of them will have 30 days to leave the country. These included journalists — from China, Pakistan, and other authoritarian countries — against whom the respective regimes are pressing criminal charges precisely for working with the VOA to tell the truth. In Belarus, journalist Ihar Losik is being punished in prison for his work with Radio Free Europe, having been sentenced to 15 years without any news; in Russia, Vladyslav Yesypenko, in Azerbaijan, Farid Mehralizada...” the hierarch noted.

“Two outstanding journalists of the Ukrainian VOA service, Ostap Yarysh and Oleksii Kovalenko, graduates of the UCU School of Journalism, received their termination letters during the vespers service while visiting the Saint Gabriel Institute (SGI) in Washington, DC. They and their colleagues who represent the more than 1000 staff of the VOA will continue witnessing to the truth,” he added.

The Metropolitan said that the dismissed journalists spoke about these developments for the Ukrainian Voice of America in Ukrainian, and the Communications and Diplomacy Program of the SGI supported them. “Good dinner conversation and a final blessing are a sign of our shared hope in dark times. I thank all those who have worked at VOA until today and over the last 83 years, bringing truth and hope to hundreds of millions of persecuted people, to entire captive nations. We are ashamed that America is silencing its own voice. Do not lose faith. Be inspired by Ukrainians who sacrifice their lives and livelihoods for freedom and justice,” said Metropolitan Borys Gudziak of Philadelphia. (Quelle: www.risu.ua, 17. März 2025)