Military Recruitment Center abducts UOC priest at bus stop in Rivne region
Priest Andriy Panasiuk. Photo: Rivne Eparchy
On November 19, 2025, employees of the Territorial Recruitment and Social Support Center abducted Fr. Andriy Panasiuk, rector of the St. Michael’s Church in the village of Buscha, Rivne Eparchy. The detention took place at a bus stop in the village of Zdobnytsia.
The recruitment officers confiscated Fr. Andriy’s phone, depriving him of any possibility of contacting his family. According to Roman Halibin, head of the fourth department of the Rivne District TRC, who responded to an inquiry from the outlet ZAXID, Fr. Andriy had been considered a violator of military registration since April 2025.
The TRC reported that on the very day of his apprehension, the priest was taken through the Military Medical Commission, declared fit for service, and sent to the training ground in Mala Liubasha. The officers justified the confiscation of his phone as a measure to prevent information leaks that could potentially be used to adjust enemy strikes.
It is worth recalling that in March 2019, supporters of the OCU forcibly seized the St. Michael’s Church from the UOC community in Buscha. This autumn, the parish built a new church to replace the one taken from them. In 2021, Bishop Pimen consecrated the new St. Michael’s Church. Now, the community is once again left without a rector.
Read also
Mobilized priest of Volodymyr-Volynsky Eparchy of UOC killed
A funeral service for Fr Andrii Korynchuk, a priest killed in the war, to be held at UOC Resurrection Cathedral in Kovel.
TRC officers draft UOC priest in Chernihiv
TRC officers have detain Archpriest Pavlo Tovstohon of the Christ's Nativity Church.
Patriarch Bartholomew and Shevchuk discuss obstacles to ecumenical unity
The head of the UGCC said that replacing Christian patriotism with the idea of loyalty to a "warring god" is an obstacle to ecumenical dialogue.
Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry plans advocacy visits abroad for UCCRO
Members of the All-Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organizations have planned advocacy visits abroad following a meeting with Ukraine’s deputy foreign minister.
UOC priest detained by recruitment officers in Kyiv sent to training ground
UOC priest Maksym Kostiuchenko, who was detained on his way to a church service in Kyiv, has been sent to a military training ground in Chernihiv Region.
25 tons of humanitarian aid from Volyn reach Sviatohirsk Lavra
Around 25 tons of food donated by believers of the UOC Volyn Eparchy arrived at Sviatohirsk Lavra on October 22.