On 16 August 2024, we, the members of the Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organisations (UCCRO), had a meeting with the President of Ukraine V. Zelensky, during which we discussed protection of freedom of religion and spiritual independence of Ukraine, protection of constitutional order and public security, human rights and fundamental freedoms in the context of abuse by the aggressor country. As a result of the meeting, we would like to note the following points, which we have repeatedly emphasised before.

We categorically condemn activities of Russian Orthodox Church, which has become an accomplice to the Russian invaders’ bloody crimes against humanity, which sanctifies weapons of mass destruction and openly declares the need to destroy Ukrainian statehood, culture, identity, and, more recently, Ukrainians themselves. 

We reiterate our statement of 11 April 2023 that partnerships and freedom of religion and their protection by the state are the basis of church-state relations in Ukraine, and no organisation – whether religious or secular – that has its centre in a country that has committed military aggression against our people and is governed by the aggressor state can operate in Ukraine. We support the legislative initiative of the President of Ukraine to make it impossible for such organisations to operate in our country, which also has broad political and public support.

We affirm that religious rights and freedoms are respected in Ukraine, even amidst of brutal war, and that our believers, despite certain challenges related to the war, have the opportunity to express their religious feelings and beliefs with dignity. The main threat to religious freedom in Ukraine is the Russian aggression, as a result of which dozens of clergymen were killed by the occupiers and hundreds of churches and houses of worship were destroyed. The Moscow Patriarchate justifies pogroms and restrictions on religious freedom, torture and murders of priests and pastors, and cynically tramples on God’s instructions and basic norms of universal morality.  

We are convinced that the course of protecting religious freedom and spiritual independence, by which we mean not isolation but openness to the high standards of our religious traditions while rejecting manipulations that involve faith and the use of religion to cover crimes, will help consolidate our society for the sake of our victory and establishment of the long-awaited just peace.