MP demands termination of UOC lease for Zymne Monastery

Zymne Holy Dormition Convent. Photo: open sources

On November 4, 2025, Ukrainian MP Ihor Huz took the floor in the Verkhovna Rada, demanding that the National Security and Defense Council and the Security Service of Ukraine terminate long-term lease agreements under which the Zymne and Nyzkyne Monasteries in Volyn are used by the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

According to Huz, the lease was extended for 50 years in 2022, during the war, by the then head of the Volyn Regional Administration, Yuriy Pohuliayko. The decision, he claimed, was executed by his deputy Anatolii Kostyk, who now heads the Lutsk District Administration.

The MP paid particular attention to the Zymne Monastery, noting that it had previously been visited by prominent figures, including Viktor Medvedchuk, Vadym Novynskyi, and His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry, Primate of the UOC. Huz stated that “these shrines belong to the Ukrainian people, yet they are controlled by the Moscow Church,” calling this “unacceptable during wartime.”

He urged the SBU to investigate the decisions made by the Volyn Regional Administration and to initiate the termination of all lease agreements concluded with the UOC.

Earlier, the UOJ reported that MPs in the Verkhovna Rada had called for the return of the Korets Convent to the state.

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