Media in Khmelnytskyi Region concerned about large number of UOC parishes

Number of UOC Orthodox communities in Ukrainian regions. Photo: bogdan.news

On August 30, 2025, the Khmelnytskyi regional news portal BOGDAN NEWS expressed concern over the large number of Ukrainian Orthodox Church parishes that continue to hold leading positions in the region.

According to the outlet, despite the active campaign by authorities to re-register communities and seize churches in favor of the OCU, Khmelnytskyi region remains fourth in Ukraine in terms of the number of UOC religious communities. The region has 621 parishes of the canonical Church, significantly more than any other denomination. At the same time, it is officially reported that more than 300 communities have already been re-registered into the OCU, yet the UOC continues to maintain a dominant presence.

It should be noted that the tally of “transfers” to the OCU remains problematic: different sources provide contradictory data, and in practice some of these “transfers” are linked to raider-style seizures of churches.

Earlier, the UOJ reported that Dumenko claimed “2,000 communities of the Moscow Patriarchate” had joined the OCU.

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