In Kharkiv region, drafters detain UOC cleric of Izium Eparchy

Father Vyacheslav Kalinichenko. Photo: Izium Eparchy

On January 8, 2026, the rector of the Holy Michael Church of the UOC in the village of Petrivka of the Izium Eparchy, Fr. Vyacheslav Kalinichenko, was detained by TRC employees, the priest's wife reports to the UOJ.

According to her, the 54-year-old priest was stopped by a police officer at a checkpoint in the city of Chuhuiv and escorted to the regional territorial recruitment center, where the clergyman was held for more than 72 hours – until January 13.

“Calling the police did not resolve the situation,” notes Fr. Vyacheslav's wife. On January 13, the priest called his wife and asked her to block his SIM card, as RTCC employees were trying to gain access to his smartphone and install the “Oberih” application. The woman called the police, but law enforcement officers were in no hurry to arrive, although two police cars drove up to the TRC building in turn.

While the wife was waiting for the police, the priest was taken to Kharkiv. “They later brought out his belongings in a bag. The priest saw me, asked permission to talk, but he was not allowed,” the woman recounts. In Kharkiv, she was unable to find her husband, and there was no contact with him.

At 2 AM on January 14, Fr. Vyacheslav called from an unknown number and reported that he was being taken to Dnipro to a training unit. According to his wife, while the priest was in the Chuhuiv DTRC, he was blackmailed with the initiation of a criminal case under Article 153 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. “The priest did nothing of the sort. This was pressure on him,” the matushka asserts.

“The parish was left without a priest, the family was left without a father and husband, we were all left without an intercessor,” says the clergyman's wife.

The woman filed complaints with the hotline of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, with the regional and military prosecutor's offices. Parishioners sent a collective letter to the military prosecutor's office. However, there are no results yet. “Laws were violated and will continue to be violated,” Fr. Vyacheslav's wife concludes, asking for prayers from all concerned people.

Earlier, the UOJ reported that in Chernivtsi, drafters detained a UOC cleric.

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