Court opens proceedings on UOC lawsuit against Cabinet over DESS dissolution

Head of DESS Viktor Yelensky. Photo: znaj.ua

The Kyiv District Administrative Court has opened proceedings on the lawsuit filed by the Kyiv Metropolis of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church against the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine regarding the legality of the establishment of the State Service of Ukraine for Ethnopolitics and Freedom of Conscience (DESS), as reported by UOC lawyer Archpriest Nikita Chekman on his Telegram channel.

According to the lawyer, the lawsuit challenges the Cabinet of Ministers resolutions under which DESS was established. The Kyiv Metropolis argues that these decisions were adopted in violation of legal requirements.

The first preparatory hearing in the case is scheduled for August 27, 2026, at 13:00 at the Kyiv District Administrative Court.

In parallel, on July 22, 2026, the Sixth Administrative Court of Appeal will begin to consider the counterclaim filed by the DESS against the Kyiv Metropolis. The State Service demands that the religious organization's activities be terminated and its property transferred to state ownership. UOC representatives emphasize that they continue to defend their interests within the legal framework and ask the faithful for prayerful support.

As the UOJ reported, on June 24, 2026, a lawyer announced that the Kyiv Metropolis filed a lawsuit with the Kyiv District Administrative Court against the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine concerning the legality of the establishment of the State Service of Ukraine for Ethnopolitics and Freedom of Conscience. The lawsuit challenges the government resolutions by which DESS was established and vested with the authority to formulate state policy in the field of religion. According to the Metropolis’s legal team, the Cabinet unlawfully delegated to the Service powers that, under Ukrainian law, may be exercised only by ministries.

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