Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew wrote in a letter to the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, that he was deeply shocked by the tragic death of 176 people aboard the Ukraine International Airlines plane that crashed early in the morning of Wednesday, January 8, in Iran.

His All-Holiness expresses his heartfelt condolences, sympathy and the support of the Mother Church in praying to the all-merciful God for the repose of the souls of the victims from seven countries, and to strengthen their families and relatives in their grief.