Young Republicans in U.S. condemn Zelensky for “spiritual ethnic cleansing”

The NYYRC accuses Zelensky of persecuting the UOC. Photo: NYYRC website

The New York Young Republican Club (NYYRC), the largest young Republican organization in the United States, has issued a statement condemning what they call "Zelensky’s Spiritual Ethnic Cleansing of the Ukraine - New York Young Republican Club," according to the UOJ America citing the club’s official website.

In a statement published late on May 23, the NYYRC drew attention to a fact little known to the general public: that the U.S. government is effectively financing the persecution of Orthodox Christians in Ukraine.

“Since engorging itself on billions of American taxpayer dollars, the autocratic Zelensky Regime and its SSB secret police are concluding a years-long battle to spiritually ethnic cleanse their country,” the NYYRC stated.

The young Republicans emphasized that millions of Ukrainians who wish to remain faithful to the millennia-old Church are under threat. They argue that the implementation of Draft Law No. 3894 will result in the liquidation of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and its replacement with a state-controlled structure.

“Such harsh legislation could scarcely be believed in a free country, but Ukraine is not free, and this was neither the beginning nor the end of their persecution of the UOC,” the statement reads.

The document cites specific data on the scale of the persecution: since February 2022, more than 1,500 UOC parishes have been forcibly seized and transferred to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU), which is recognized by only a few Local Orthodox Churches. The statement highlights that the actions of the Ukrainian authorities have been condemned by virtually all major human rights organizations, including even left-wing NGOs typically hostile to Christianity. Human Rights Watch, the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, and the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom have all criticized these measures. The Republicans also noted that Pope Francis has stated that no Christian Church may be abolished – neither directly nor indirectly.

In light of this, the NYYRC is calling for immediate federal action to block what they describe as a spiritual and ethnic cleansing of Ukraine before it’s too late. “Volodmyr Zelensky cancelled elections, arrested and murdered his political opponents, and has taken billions of American tax dollars. Not content with this, he is spiritually colonizing millions of UOC Christians and forcing a new, unrecognized Church upon his people which is accountable not to God, but rather to his government,” the statement says.

The Republicans also pointed to the role of current Vice President J.D. Vance, who in April of last year, as a senator, denounced the “assault on traditional Christian communities” in Ukraine. At the time, he stated: “You don’t deprive an entire religious community of their religious freedom because some of its adherents don’t agree with you about the relevant conflict of the day.”

“Now that he is Vice President of the United States, the time has come for him to back up his words with concrete actions,” the NYYRC asserted.

The statement concludes by stressing that, as the Trump administration engages in negotiations to end the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, any resulting agreement must restore the UOC to its former status and return civil and religious liberties to the Ukrainian people.

Notably, the NYYRC’s statement was released just a few hours after the publication of an interview between Tucker Carlson and Ukrainian MP and archdeacon Vadym Novynskyi – a sign of growing American public interest in the issue of religious persecution in Ukraine.

As a reminder, in his interview with Tucker Carlson, Fr. Vadym stated that UOC churches are being seized across Ukraine on a daily basis.

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