On April 30, 2025, a delegation from the Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organizations (UCCRO) arrived in Washington, D.C., and participated in a roundtable discussion titled “Current Developments in U.S. Policy” at the Niskanen Center. Representatives of Ukrainian religious denominations and Center experts explored aspects of U.S. politics and their implications for future U.S.-Ukraine relations, including the role of religion.
That same day, the delegation attended the Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky Medal Award Ceremony at the U.S. Capitol, organized by the Jewish Confederation of Ukraine and the Ukrainian-Jewish Encounter. This year’s recipients were French philosopher and writer Bernard-Henri Lévy and Ukrainian poet and former Soviet dissident Lina Kostenko.
On the morning of May 1, UCCRO representatives met with Archbishop Timothy Broglio, President of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, who visited Kyiv in December 2022. The delegation expressed gratitude to Archbishop Broglio and the Conference for their prayers, support, and solidarity with Ukraine. They highlighted the persecution of churches and religious organizations in Ukraine’s temporarily occupied territories, the Russian regime’s instrumentalization of religion, and the complicity of certain Russian religious groups. The delegation also addressed Russia’s abduction of over 20,000 Ukrainian children. At the meeting’s conclusion, they presented Archbishop Broglio with a painting by Ukrainian children and a book of war testimonies.
Later, the delegation met with Elijah Brown, General Secretary and CEO of the Baptist World Alliance (BWA), at its headquarters. Brown, who has visited Ukraine multiple times since Russia’s full-scale invasion began, emphasized the importance of protecting religious rights and freedoms in line with international standards. He shared examples of American churches’ support for religious freedom and offered guidance on effectively communicating accurate information to U.S. audiences.
In a meeting with U.S. Representative Jamie Raskin (D-MD), the UCCRO delegation detailed Russia’s severe violations of religious freedom in occupied Ukrainian territories and expressed appreciation for bipartisan congressional support for Ukraine.
The delegation also visited the Embassy of Ukraine in the United States, meeting with Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Oksana Markarova and Ukraine’s First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy, Yulia Svyrydenko, who was on an official U.S. visit. The delegation provided updates on their engagements in New York and Washington with American partners.
Ukrainian religious leaders met with Politico journalists, addressing questions about the war in Ukraine and Russia’s use of religion to advance its foreign policy objectives. Later, the delegation met with representatives of the National Council of Churches USA to exchange views on the state and development of U.S.-Ukraine relations.
The UCCRO delegation’s visit to the United States is supported by the Konrad Adenauer Foundation (Germany). The delegation includes representatives from the All-Ukrainian Union of Churches of Evangelical Christians-Baptists (AUCECB), the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU), the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGCC), the Roman Catholic Church (RCC), the Ukrainian Pentecostal Church (UPC), the Union of Jewish Religious Organizations of Ukraine (UJROU), and the Institute for Religious Freedom (IRF).