OCU supporters stage provocation outside court hearing DESS lawsuit against UOC

OCU supporters outside the Sixth Administrative Court of Appeal in Kyiv during the hearing of the DESS lawsuit against the UOC’s Kyiv Metropolis. Photo: Pershyi Kozatskyi

On July 22, 2026, outside the Sixth Administrative Court of Appeal in Kyiv, where the case brought by Ukraine’s State Service for Ethnopolitics and Freedom of Conscience (DESS) against the UOC’s Kyiv Metropolis was being heard, a group of OCU supporters staged what witnesses described as a provocative performance, according to Pershyi Kozatskyi.

The group, led by activist Davyd Pshenychnyi and accompanied by several masked individuals wearing the insignia of the Foundation of the Future organization, approached members of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church who had gathered outside the courthouse to support the Kyiv Metropolis.

Pshenychnyi previously took part in the attack on the UOC’s St. Michael’s Cathedral in Cherkasy. During the seizure of the cathedral in October 2024, he was filmed inside the church carrying a handgun.

According to witnesses, the activists walked around the Orthodox faithful carrying a bucket filled with an unidentified liquid and poured it onto the ground. Witnesses said the group appeared to be mocking the Orthodox rite of blessing with holy water and deliberately attempting to offend the believers.

Despite the provocation, the UOC faithful did not respond or engage with the activists. Instead, they continued praying outside the courthouse and recited Psalm 90 together.

As the UOJ reported earlier, OCU activists called recruitment officers to a service of a persecuted UOC community in Kremenchuk.

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