Bohdan: Important to remember UOC churches’re praying for Ukraine's victory

Olena Bogdan. Photo: resonance.ua

The head of the State Ethnopolitics Committee, Olena Bohdan, said in an interview with fakty.com.ua that UOC churches are praying for Ukraine's victory.

"When a full-scale invasion began, a number of UOC believers went as volunteers to the front. A number of priests of the UOC blessed the faithful to go to the front. In the temples of the UOC, they pray for the victory of Ukraine. And it is also important to remember about it," said Bohdan.

Bohdan added that, despite this, the state must respond to all cases of collaboration, regardless of whether it is carried out by a secular person or a cleric.

"In his rhetoric, Putin tried to use the UOC situation to justify the occupation. From the point of view of Russian propaganda, it is important and beneficial for them to show that here, we "liberated" the clergy of the UOC. Therefore, no other clergy are under such frenzied pressure when interactions with the occupation authorities begin. The Russian Federation is trying to justify its invasion with narratives of oppression of the ROC represented by the UOC in Ukraine," Bohdan concluded.

As earlier reported, Bohdan said that the clerics against whom cases have been opened are less than 1 per cent of the entire UOC.

As reported, clerics against whom cases are initiated make less than 1% of UOC.

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