The State Service for Ethnopolitics is demanding that the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate) sever its ties with the Russian Orthodox Church. If the dioceses do not comply with the relevant orders voluntarily, the State Service for Ethnopolitics will go to court with lawsuits to terminate their activities.
This was stated by the head of the State Service for Ethnopolitics, Viktor Yelenskyi, during a meeting with clergy of the Zaporizhzhia Diocese of the UOC in Zaporizhzhia, Ukrinform reports.
According to Yelenskyi, the law on protecting the constitutional order in the sphere of religious organisations’ activities provides that the UOC, its parishes, dioceses, educational institutions and monasteries must leave the ROC.
He stressed that the state is not demanding that the UOC change the language of worship, switch to a different church calendar, or become part of another church. The main requirement is to cease belonging to the Russian Orthodox Church.
"The Ukrainian state is not demanding that the UOC either change the language of worship from Church Slavonic to Ukrainian, or change the calendar from the Julian to the Revised Julian, or become part of another church. Only to stop being part of a terrorist organisation, which the Russian Orthodox Church has, in essence, turned into," Yelenskyi said.
The head of the service said that last year the State Service for Ethnopolitics had already gone to court with a claim to terminate the Kyiv Metropolis of the UOC.
The agency is currently examining the links of certain dioceses with the Kyiv Metropolis and demanding that they leave the ROC. In addition, diocesan bishops must stop taking part in the statutory bodies of the Russian church.
If religious organisations do not comply with the orders of the State Service for Ethnopolitics, the service will file lawsuits to terminate the activities of the relevant dioceses. According to Yelenskyi, the lawsuits will not be filed simultaneously against all dioceses.
According to the head of the State Service for Ethnopolitics, the administrations of the Zaporizhzhia, Boryspil and Balta dioceses of the UOC have already received orders to remedy the violations.
“The Zaporizhzhia Diocese has already received an order. There is no report on remedying the violations, as the order requires. Therefore, we will be forced to file a lawsuit in court against the Zaporizhzhia Diocese as well, but at any moment we will withdraw the claim if they leave the ROC,” Yelenskyi уточнив.
- In August 2024, the Verkhovna Rada adopted the law “On Protecting the Constitutional Order in the Sphere of Religious Organisations’ Activities”, which bans in Ukraine the activities of religious organisations affiliated with the ROC.
- On 9 July 2025, the State Service for Ethnopolitics said it had identified signs of the UOC-MP’s affiliation with the Russian Orthodox Church, whose activities are banned in Ukraine.
- On 17 July 2025, the State Service for Ethnopolitics issued the UOC-MP with an order to remedy, by 18 August, violations of legislation on freedom of conscience and religious organisations, and also approved a list of religious organisations that are part of the UOC-MP’s structure or connected to it.
- Later, the UOC-MP sent a letter to the State Service for Ethnopolitics explaining its position on the status of the Church, and also stated that the order is interference in the internal life of the church and cannot be complied with.
- On 27 August 2025, the State Service for Ethnopolitics recognised the UOC-MP as affiliated with the ROC. Under the law “On Protecting the Constitutional Order in the Sphere of Religious Organisations’ Activities”, the UOC (MP) will, after 60 days, lose ahead of schedule the right to use state and municipal property.
- On 29 August 2025, the State Service for Ethnopolitics filed a lawsuit in court to terminate the activities of the UOC-MP. The court is also being asked to transfer to the state its property, funds and other assets, except for items used for worship.
- On 18 September 2025, the court refused the UOC-MP’s request for interim measures in the case on terminating the Church’s activities. On 29 October, the Cassation Administrative Court within the Supreme Court upheld the first-instance decision and rejected the UOC-MP’s appeal regarding the request for interim measures. On 22 October, the court refused the State Service for Ethnopolitics’ request for interim measures in the case on terminating the activities of the UOC (MP). In November, the State Service for Ethnopolitics appealed the refusal.
- The UOC-MP, for its part, is asking the court to declare unlawful and annul the order of the State Service for Ethnopolitics recognising the Church as affiliated with the ROC. The UOC-MP also filed a counterclaim in the case on terminating the Church’s activities.
- The Sixth Administrative Court of Appeal postponed the hearing indefinitely in the lawsuit brought by the State Service of Ukraine for Ethnopolitics and Freedom of Conscience to terminate the activities of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate, which has been recognised as affiliated with the Russian Orthodox Church.