Khmelnytsky City Council files complaint with SBU over Met. Onuphry's visit

Yarova speaking at a Khmelnytsky City Council session. Photo: Khmelnytsky City Council's YouTube channel

On May 21, 2022, deputies of the Khmelnytsky City Council submitted an official appeal to the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and the National Police in response to the visit of Metropolitan Onuphry, Primate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC).

During the plenary session, deputy Anastasia Yarova delivered a speech filled with defamatory accusations against the UOC, none of which were supported by factual evidence.

According to Yarova, the UOC is “an agency of the FSB church,” and “it operates illegally and acts in Russia’s interests.”

“It’s no secret that many representatives of this church were involved in sabotage activities, hiding Russian soldiers in their churches. We found illegal literature in churches that transitioned here in Khmelnytsky. This church incites interfaith hostility and engages in unlawful agitation against Ukraine,” she claimed, adding that Metropolitan Onuphry’s visit was “a provocation between Ukrainians and supporters of the Russian world.”

Yarova provided no evidence to support any of these claims. She called on the SBU and the National Police to “conduct a thorough and comprehensive investigation into the facts we have heard and will continue to hear.”

All 29 deputies present at the session supported the council's appeal.

Earlier, the UOJ reported that a worship service involving Metropolitan Onuphry in Khmelnytsky had been canceled.

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