On December 23, 2024, members of the Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organizations (UCCRO) met with President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The meeting took place at the Metropolitan House of the National Conservation Area "St. Sophia of Kyiv" in Kyiv.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy congratulated the religious leaders on the upcoming holidays - Christmas and Hanukkah.

In his speech, the Head of State emphasized the important role of churches and religious organizations in the spiritual, social and humanitarian support of Ukrainians during the war and thanked them for the service of various denominations. 

«I want to thank you for being with the Ukrainian people, supporting people, praying for all of us. Pray every day for our soldiers - for those who are at the front, those who are wounded and those who, unfortunately, are killed, as well as for civilian Ukrainians who work, live and study in the country,»Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.

Separately, the President of Ukraine thanked the chaplains who support the defenders at the front and expressed hope that military chaplaincy would continue to develop. The Head of State emphasized that the role of the Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organizations was important for Ukraine's advocacy in the world. After all, Russia is trying to use the church to influence the opinion of Ukrainians who went abroad because of the war.

The Primate of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, Metropolitan Epifaniy, thanked Volodymyr Zelenskyy for his assistance in the adoption of the Law of Ukraine "On the Protection of the Constitutional Order in the Field of Religious Organizations." He emphasized that representatives of the UCCRO convey the truth about Ukraine abroad and fight Russian propaganda.

The Head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, Major Archbishop Sviatoslav, thanked the President of Ukraine for the fact that the Internal Resilience Plan specifically mentions the important role and activities of the Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organizations. He also noted that Ukrainian diplomatic missions and religious organizations should work together to support Ukrainians temporarily residing abroad.

President of the Ukrainian Bible Society Hryhorii Komendant, head of the All-Ukrainian Union of Evangelical Christian Baptist Churches Valeriy Antoniuk, senior bishop of the Ukrainian Pentecostal Church Anatoliy Kozachok, and bishop-ordinary of the Kyiv-Zhytomyr Diocese of the Roman Catholic Church Vitaliy Kryvytskyy emphasized that the participation of religious organizations is important for defending Ukraine's interests abroad.

The meeting was also attended by: President of the Ukrainian Union Conference of the Seventh-day Adventist Church Stanislav Nosov, Senior Bishop of the Ukrainian Christian Evangelical Church Leonid Padun, Senior Bishop of the Ukrainian Evangelical Church Oleksandr Zaitsev, Head of the Spiritual Administration of Muslims of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea Ayder Rustemov, Bishop of the Ukrainian Lutheran Church Viacheslav Horpynchuk, Bishop Paul Schwartz of the German Evangelical Lutheran Church, Head of the Ukrainian Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church Markos Hovhannisyan, Pastor Petro Sehlyanyk of the Transcarpathian Reformed Church, Deputy Chairman of the Board of the Association of Jewish Religious Organizations of Ukraine Yevhen Ziskind, Assistant Chief Rabbi of Kyiv and Ukraine of the Association of Jewish Religious Organizations of Ukraine Avrohom Bleich and Deputy Secretary General of the Ukrainian Bible Society Anatoliy Raychynets.