Court sentences OCU "bishop" for selling clerical rank to draft evaders

OCU “Bishop” Kyrylo Mykhailiuk. Photo: lviv.media

The Kalush City District Court in Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast sentenced OCU “Bishop” Kyrylo Mykhailiuk to three years’ probation for orchestrating a large-scale scheme involving the sale of fraudulent documents certifying the ordination of 291 men as deacons. This was reported by Zaxid.net.

Law enforcement officials established that between June 2023 and November 2025, Mykhailiuk issued fake ordination certificates and deacon credentials to men eligible for military service to help them evade mobilization. The forged documents were printed at a private printing house in Ivano-Frankivsk. Fabricated news reports about supposed ordinations were then backdated and published on the eparchy’s website.

The price of a fraudulent ordination ranged from $1,000 to $2,000 per person. Mykhailiuk also personally visited Territorial Recruitment Centers (TRCs), where he assured military officials that his clerics’ documents were authentic. He charged an additional fee for this service.

Moreover, throughout 2025, the “bishop” repeatedly asked the OCU leadership to grant his organizations critical infrastructure status so that all 291 “deacons” could receive official exemptions from mobilization.

The court sentenced Mykhailiuk to five years in prison but suspended the sentence, placing him on probation for three years after taking into account his remorse, disability, and financial contributions to the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

As previously reported by the UOJ, the OCU had “sold” the rank of deacon to a security guard to help him evade mobilization.

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