Hostomel businessman involved in church raids faces prison for embezzlement

Epifaniy Dumenko awards Serhii Voznyi. Photo: Voznyi's Facebook

On June 25, 2025, Irpin News reported that criminal proceedings had been opened against Serhii Voznyi, a businessman who orchestrated a series of raider-style church takeovers in Kyiv Oblast. He is accused of misappropriating funds allocated for the reconstruction of the Hostomel community.

According to media sources, Voznyi has become a key figure in the case. The police launched a criminal investigation into the embezzlement of property through abuse of official position involving Deputy Head of the Hostomel Village Military Administration Olha Prylypko and her accomplices: Serhii Voznyi, Oleksandr Ivanov, and several local businessmen.

They are charged under Part 5, Article 191 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine – embezzlement or misappropriation of property by an official on a particularly large scale. Voznyi has already been formally served with suspicion. All defendants face up to twelve years in prison.

Serhii Voznyi is known for forging documents and organizing violent seizures of Orthodox churches. For these actions, he received multiple awards from the head of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU), Epifaniy Dumenko.

In May, Voznyi published a list on his Facebook page of churches he had “transferred” from the UOC. According to him, “thanks to joint efforts,” more than 30 churches were successfully moved into the OCU.

Earlier, the UOJ provided a detailed report on the involvement of such “itinerant activists” in criminal schemes, highlighting the case of Serhii Voznyi in particular.

Read also