Church seized by masked men in Dubivtsi, Bukovyna

OCU militants outside the UOC Dormition Church in Dubivtsi. Photo: Facebook video screenshot

In the village of Dubivtsi, Chernivtsi region, clergy and representatives of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU), together with masked militants, seized the Dormition Church belonging to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC). Believers are livestreaming the events from the scene.

According to their reports, on the evening of April 1, 2025, at around 5:00 p.m., raiders affiliated with the OCU stormed the church grounds, accompanied by underage militants from the "Bandera Trident" group. The faithful claim these individuals were brought in from Ivano-Frankivsk region.

The attackers cordoned off and blocked the church. Orthodox Christians and clergy gathered nearby, standing behind a barricade.

The parish is led by Archpriest Petro Zeleniuk, who serves alongside his son, Archpriest Ioan. Father Ioan was previously a cleric of the UOC cathedral in Ivano-Frankivsk. After the violent takeover of the main cathedral of the Ivano-Frankivsk diocese, he moved to the village to support his father in ministry.

Police are present at the scene but are not intervening.

As previously reported by the UOJ, the Dormition parish of Dubivtsi had appealed to the U.S. government –  personally to Vice President J.D. Vance – as well as to the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission and the OSCE, due to the threat of seizure by the OCU. The faithful stated that on January 26, 2025, several OCU activists organized a meeting in the village about a potential transfer of jurisdiction. When parishioners signed only as participants in the meeting, the organizers collected the documents and disappeared without conducting any vote.

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