On 13 March 2026, representatives of the Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organizations (UCCRO) in London met with the President of the Conference of European Churches (CEC), Archbishop Nikitas of Thyateira and Great Britain (Ecumenical Patriarchate). The meeting was also attended by a representative of the Church of England, the Chair of the Committee of the Anglican and Eastern Churches Association, the Reverend Canon Dr William Taylor.

Archbishop Nikitas briefed the representatives of UCCRO on the life of the Greek Orthodox community in the United Kingdom and spoke about the state of inter-confessional dialogue and cooperation in the country. As President of the CEC, the Archbishop highlighted aspects of the Conference’s work in supporting the Ukrainian people in their just struggle against Russian aggression.

Representatives of UCCRO thanked Archbishop Nikitas for the CEC’s position of solidarity with Ukraine and for identifying and condemning the ideology of the “Russian world” (Russkiy mir) as heretical. Ukrainian religious leaders informed the participants about cases of religious persecution and crimes committed by the Russian Federation in the religious sphere. The parties also discussed ways to strengthen efforts to further communicate truthful information about the war in Ukraine through religious channels in the United Kingdom and other European countries.

It should be recalled that earlier, on 11–12 March 2026, the UCCRO delegation in London met with Rebecca Smith, Deputy Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group “Christians in Parliament”; Paul Walters, Head of the Ukraine Department at the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office; and Valerii Zaluzhnyi, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Ukraine to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. They also participated in an event entitled “Defending Ukraine’s Identity and Why It Is Key for Durable Peace”, organised by the Royal Institute of International Affairs (Chatham House).

The UCCRO delegation visiting London included: Metropolitan Yevstratiy (Zoria) of Bila Tserkva, spokesperson of the Kyiv Metropolis of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine; Bishop Kenneth Nowakowski, head of the Eparchy of the Holy Family of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church in London; Bishop Vitalii Kryvytskyi of the Roman Catholic Church, Ordinary of the Kyiv-Zhytomyr Diocese; Pastor Igor Bandura, Vice-President of the All-Ukrainian Union of Churches of Evangelical Christians-Baptists; Pastor Anatoliy Raichynets, Deputy General Secretary of the Ukrainian Bible Society; Hennadii Biloritskyi, legal adviser to the Chief Rabbi of Kyiv and Ukraine (UJROU); and Oleksandr Zaiets, Chairman of the Board of the Institute for Religious Freedom.