Ombudsman’s Office: We are monitoring investigation of Bancheny Monastery

Metropolitan Longin with children. Photo: UOC

Social services, the police, and the regional children’s service are investigating reports of alleged abuse of children at the orphanage attached to the Ascension Bancheny Monastery of the UOC. According to the Department of Information Policy of the Secretariat of the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights, the Ombudsman is personally monitoring the process.

“The issue of protecting children’s rights, in light of reports of possible instances of improper and cruel treatment in the monastery, is under the Ombudsman’s control,” said the department’s director, Tetiana Shelest, in comments to Espreso journalists.

According to her, information about “possible violations” has already been entered into the Unified Register of Pre-Trial Investigations. Necessary investigative and search measures continue “for a full and impartial investigation of all the circumstances of the criminal offense.”

The Children’s Service of the Chernivtsi Regional Military Administration has created a temporary commission to monitor the conditions of care, education, and upbringing of children under the guardianship of Metropolitan Longin (Zhar). At present, the children are working with a psychologist, a social worker, and a police officer.

As the UOJ previously reported, on May 27, 2025, the Ombudsman’s Office announced it had sent requests to a number of government agencies demanding an “impartial” investigation into claims of alleged abuse at the Bancheny Monastery of the UOC.

As a reminder, Metropolitan Longin, who adopted hundreds of children and was named a Hero of Ukraine, has become the target of slander amid pressure on the UOC. A blogger published a video featuring supposed residents of the monastery’s orphanage making unverified accusations of abuse. These videos were circulated by propagandist media outlets. The monastery itself has already been the target of an arson attack, and there have been direct threats against its clergy.

The children living at the orphanage in Bancheny Monastery have themselves denied the blogger Edgar Kalancha’s false claims against their father, the Metropolitan.

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