Yelensky: The US is telling us that mobilizing priests is unacceptable
The head of DESS said that Ukraine is being told by the USA and other countries that clergy cannot be mobilized.
On June 3, 2026, the head of the State Service for Ethnic Policy and Freedom of Conscience Viktor Yelensky at a press conference dedicated to the presentation of the all-Ukrainian survey "Assessment of the Religious Situation in Ukraine" said that international religious centers are pointing out to Ukrainian authorities the inadmissibility of mobilizing clergy.
Responding to a question about the state not providing deferments for UOC clergy, Yelensky pointed out that in Orthodox and Catholic churches a priest can only offer a bloodless sacrifice. "He cannot take up arms. If he commits even an unintentional killing, he must be defrocked," emphasized the head of DESS.
"Many religious centers, for example the Episcopal Conference of the United States of America, many international religious centers have appealed and pointed this out to Ukraine. But ultimately what was done, what was decided – this was a decision of the Ukrainian president, the Ukrainian head of the Ukrainian government," Yelensky stated. What exactly was decided by Zelensky in the context of the inadmissibility of clergy mobilization, the head of DESS did not specify.
He said that Armed Forces of Ukraine chaplains periodically travel abroad and care for Ukrainian refugees there.
Earlier, the Union of Orthodox Journalists reported that DESS intends to file lawsuits against every diocese of the UOC.
