Ternopil deputy proposes classifying UOC priests as enemies of the people

Deputy Vasyl Hrabovyi. Photo: Facebook page European Solidarity - Ternopil region

On April 15, 2026, the Facebook page of the regional branch of the European Solidarity party published a video in which local deputy Vasyl Hrabovyi called for clergy to be subjected to court persecution.

During his remarks, Hrabovyi claimed that church communities remain within the canonical Church solely because of the stance of their pastors, whom he described as “FSB-linked Moscow priests.”

The deputy proposed that the authorities “develop a different approach” to the fight for the forced re-registration of parishes in favor of the structure headed by Epifaniy Dumenko.

“Someone should be tasked with studying the biographies of those priests, their connections. And then, on the basis of their activities, lawsuits should be filed and they should be designated as enemies of the Ukrainian people,” the European Solidarity representative said.

According to the politician, the very refusal to join the OCU is already sufficient proof of these priests’ alleged “pro-Russian” position.

Hrabovyi is convinced that it is precisely the lack of a pro-Ukrainian stance on the part of a community’s leader that supposedly makes its accession to the OCU impossible.

Earlier, the UOJ reported that there had not been a single transfer to the OCU in Ternopil region since 2024.

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