President’s Office pledges “not to close a single church”

Olena Kovalska. Photo: Kovalska’s Facebook

Deputy Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Olena Kovalska said in an interview with Interfax that the state has not closed a single Church and allegedly has no intention of doing so. According to her, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church is only required to renounce a status of affiliation with the Russian Federation, which officials of the State Service for Ethnopolitics and Freedom of Conscience (DESS) claim to have identified.

As the presidential official explained, the authorities’ approach to religious organizations is the same as to businesses – they must not be linked to the aggressor state. Kovalska stated that the influence religious organizations have on people makes such a connection particularly dangerous. She did not specify how exactly ties with the Russian Federation allegedly manifest themselves within UOC communities.

According to Kovalska, the leadership of the UOC has so far refused to comply with the directive issued by the state body for ethnopolitics demanding a rupture with Moscow.

“In essence, the UOC is fighting in court for the right to continue remaining under the jurisdiction of the Moscow Patriarchate,” Kovalska said.

Recall that after the Council held in Feofania in 2022, all provisions concerning ties with the Russian Orthodox Church were removed from the Statute of the UOC. Nevertheless, in the summer of 2025, officials of the state body for ethnopolitics, based on their study of documents from the Russian Federation, declared that the UOC still maintains a connection with Moscow.

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