Parishioners chanting at seized church in Ust-Putyla: We are against OCU
Believers state that they do not want to be in the Orthodox Church of Ukraine.
On the day of the Apostle John the Theologian, May 21, 2025, militants of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU) seized the St. Paraskeva Church of the UOC in the village of Ust-Putyla in Bukovyna. In a video received from the scene, believers demand that the police allow them into their native church.
Parishioners are chanting: «We are against the OCU!»
They claim that the shrine was seized by people who came from the Ivano-Frankivsk region, under the leadership of the chaplain of the OCU, Hryshchuk.
As reported by the UOJ, the invaders have closed themselves off inside the Orthodox shrine while the police guard them from the parishioners. Those believers who try to enter their shrine are roughly dragged out of the church territory by the police.
