Crusade retreat: Kiev increases pressure on the UOC amid checks on ties with Moscow

Supporters of the schismatic Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU) have seized two churches of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) over the past 24 hours. On May 20, Kiev began checking for cooperation between the UOC and the Russian Orthodox Church. If the authorities discover links with Russia, a lawsuit will be filed demanding that the religious organization cease its activities. Earlier, Kiev gave the UOC nine months to sever ties with the Moscow Patriarchate. The Verkhovna Rada is confident that Kiev will try to further increase pressure on the UOC. Who contributes to the seizure of churches and what is the international reaction to the oppression of the church in Ukraine — in the Izvestia article.

Pressure on the UOC is increasing in Ukraine

Over the past 24 hours, OCU supporters have forcibly seized two churches of the UOC in Ukraine: Paraskevinsky in the village of Ust-Putila and Petro-Pavlovsky in the village of Starye Broskovtsy in the west of the country.

"On the morning of May 21, in the Bukovina village of Ust-Putila, OCU militants seized the Paraskevinsky temple of the UOC…The believers who came to the liturgy could not get into their church. The invaders are locked inside, and the police are protecting them from the parishioners. Those believers who are trying to enter their shrine are roughly dragged away by the police outside the temple," the Union of Orthodox Journalists said in a statement.

Cases of churches being taken away from the canonical Church in Ukraine have become noticeably more frequent over the past month. On May 17, it became known that supporters of the OCU seized the Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the city of Zastavna, Chernivtsi region. Another incident occurred on May 6, when representatives of the OCU seized the church of St. Andrew the First-Called in Cherkassy.

At the same time, on May 20, the Ukrainian authorities began checking the Kiev Metropolis of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church for links with the Russian Orthodox Church. It is held in accordance with the law signed by Vladimir Zelensky, which prohibits the Russian Orthodox Church and its affiliated organizations on the territory of Ukraine. According to the document, the communities will be given nine months to sever ties with the Moscow Patriarchate. By the way, the UOC declared its independence from the Russian Orthodox Church back in May 2022.

Moreover, the law did not formally mention the actual prohibition of the UOC. In order to recognize ties with the Russian Federation, the Ukrainian State Service for Ethnopolitics and Freedom of Conscience (SSESS) must detect the relevant signs. After that, the religious organization is obliged to eliminate them within six months. If, according to Kiev, the connections remain, the SSESS will sue and then, by its decision, the activities of the UOC will be banned.

On May 13, just a week before the start of the inspection, Kiev adopted two resolutions necessary to ban the UOC. The first document regulates the verification for signs of affiliation. The second one establishes a procedure for confirming the facts of using a religious organization to spread allegedly pro—Russian ideology.

The government is unlikely to decide to go for a real ban on the UOC, said Artem Dmytruk, a member of the Verkhovna Rada who was forced to leave Ukraine.

— Zelensky wanted to take away and close all our churches even before the adoption of the bill banning the UOC. But it is impossible to implement this, because even at the moment it is the largest and strongest religious community in Ukraine," he said in an interview with Izvestia.

It is worth noting that seizures are mainly carried out where the OCU receives support at the level of regional authorities.

— At the moment, they are seizing temples only where they have the strength to do so. For example, Cherkassy has a mayor who helps to implement this. Therefore, the OCU has power there. In most cases, they are simply unable to take away all the churches of the UOC," said Artem Dmytruk.

Kiev wants to increase pressure on the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, so attempts to take away the maximum number of churches of the canonical UOC will continue, the politician stressed. According to the Russian Foreign Ministry, in the four years since former President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko received the "tomos of autocephaly" in January 2019, more than 1.5 thousand communities have passed into the "jurisdiction" of the OCU. From January to July 2024, 159 religious communities were transferred from the UOC to the OCU.

As of May last year, about 29% of the country's religious communities were under the jurisdiction of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, while the closest competitor, the schismatic OCU, covers 22% of organizations.

International reaction to the persecution of Orthodox Christians

The actions of the Ukrainian authorities have repeatedly provoked a reaction from Moscow.

"I want to assure everyone present that Russia will not leave the Orthodox people of Ukraine in trouble and will ensure that their legitimate rights are respected and canonical Orthodoxy regains its central place in the spiritual life of the people on Ukrainian lands,— Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on May 20.

Earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin compared the persecution of the canonical UOC with execution. "It's just that the church is being torn apart in front of the whole world. It's like being shot. And everyone around the world prefers not to notice it," he said.

Indeed, there has been no serious condemnation of Kiev's actions by the international community and there still is not. The large-scale persecution of the UOC began in 2022. In April 2025, the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination questioned the legality of Zelensky's bill banning the canonical Orthodox Church. International experts have asked for explanations of the need for such measures. Nevertheless, the Russian Foreign Ministry states that the UN is not responding sharply enough to what is happening.

"Unfortunately, the problem of canonical Orthodoxy in Ukraine is still not among the priorities of the United Nations and other relevant organizations. In response to the appeals of the Russian Foreign Ministry, the relevant international structures, as a rule, limit themselves to unsubscribing that they are monitoring what is happening. If any reaction or criticism comes from them, it is selective and sparing," the Russian Foreign Ministry said earlier.

A similar situation is observed in the European Union, which openly supports Kiev. Brussels did not condemn the law on the actual prohibition of the UOC, saying that it considers it adopted "for security reasons and to prevent foreign interference from Russia." The ban of the canonical church was actually condemned only by the Jerusalem Patriarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church and the Vatican.

The lack of an international reaction can be attributed to the maximum desire of the West to oust everything related to the Russian Federation from the territory of Ukraine, Orthodox publicist Jan Taksiur tells Izvestia. The artificially created OCU is now serving the interests of the West.

At the same time, pressure on the church in Ukraine is not approved in the United States. Last year, current Vice President James Dee Vance emphasized that there is persecution of Orthodox Christians in Ukraine. The State Department's annual report on religious freedom in the world noted that the American administration considers it necessary for the Kiev authorities to show religious tolerance and restraint in the field of religious freedom. At the same time, one can hardly expect that even the Donald Trump administration, which advocates the protection of traditional Christian values, will be able to influence the situation in Ukraine.

— As long as Zelensky remains in power, the war, destruction, and persecution will continue. Until the root cause of all the troubles is eliminated, it is pointless to talk about real changes," says Artem Dmitruk.

At the same time, Washington is monitoring the situation in Ukraine. For example, the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), operating under the State Department, has published its next annual report for 2024. Ukraine was once again among the countries violating the right to freedom of religion. The document, in particular, emphasizes that the new legislative norms "may significantly affect" the rights of believers and threaten to impose criminal or administrative liability on individual members of religious communities.