OCU seizes UOC church in Verkhni Stanivtsi with police assistance

Hryshchuk forcing his way to the UOC church in Verkhni Stanivtsi. Photo: UOJ

On April 12, 2025, Lazarus Saturday, raiders from the OCU seized the St. Nicholas Church in the village of Verkhni Stanivtsi in the Bukovyna region, the UOC community reported to the UOJ.

Under the cover of holding a “prayer service” near the church fence, the attackers broke several sections of the church’s enclosure, stormed the premises, and violently pushed their way toward the building, assaulting parishioners along the way. Several women who tried to stop them were thrown to the ground. Shouting “Out with the Moscow priest!”, the OCU militants, led by repeat church raider Roman Hryshchuk, broke down the church doors.

After this, police entered the premises, pushed back the UOC community, and formed a corridor through which a group of brought-in individuals waving flags proceeded into the church.

One parishioner, filming the incident, said bitterly: “And then they tell us we have some kind of law on freedom of religion... These are completely unfamiliar, outside people who came to our church. There’s no law, no authority here. It was all preplanned – they just broke the fence and went inside the church. And the police watched it all unfold, openly and deliberately.”

“This is the village of Verkhni Stanivtsi, our long-suffering parish...,” another parishioner said on camera before breaking down in tears, unable to continue.

Earlier, the UOJ reported that a soldier of the Ukrainian Armed Forces from Verkhni Stanivtsi, whose wife and her sister were beaten by OCU assailants, demanded that Hryshchuk and his accomplices leave the church alone.

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