Kirovohrad and Oleksandriia UOC Eparchies to be inspected for “ties to ROC”
Local authorities say they are awaiting how the Kyiv Metropolia complies with the DESS order.
The Kirovohrad and Oleksandriia eparchies of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church will be inspected for “connections with the Russian Orthodox Church” in accordance with an order issued by the State Service of Ukraine for Ethnopolitics and Freedom of Conscience (DESS) on July 17, 2025. This was reported by Suspilne Kropyvnytskyi.
The eparchies are included in a list of 52 religious organizations that are part of or affiliated with the Kyiv Metropolia, the governing center for all UOC regional administrations.
“They are currently waiting to see how the Ukrainian Orthodox Church’s Kyiv Metropolia will comply with the DESS order to eliminate identified signs of affiliation with the Russian Church,” the outlet reports, citing Vitaliy Ostannyi, head of the regional Department of Strategic Communications.
Journalists spoke with Orthodox clergy and believers.
Fr. Ivan Vereskun, priest of the Annunciation of the Most Holy Theotokos Church of the UOC, stated that they have no ties to the ROC.
“The Ukrainian Orthodox Church belongs precisely to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. The governing center of the UOC is the Kyiv Metropolia,” he said.
A layman, Andriy Tynychenko, said he does not understand “why this is being done and why this affiliation is being fabricated”:
“I think this is happening under the principle of ‘divide and conquer.’ You can’t just forcefully declare that this is not a Church and say that if some order is not fulfilled, we’ll ban it.”
In the view of Fr. Ioann, the authorities should “stop, for instance, branding this or that Church, using slander or labels.”
Natalia Kovaleva from Kropyvnytskyi has been attending the UOC cathedral in the city for 30 years.
“The Church is my cradle; this Church has developed historically. It is Ukrainian. We are also citizens of Ukraine here. Patriots are here, so everything offered here is good. I see no ties whatsoever. Just look at the sermons – they are all proper and directed toward supporting the state and the people,” the parishioner told the reporters.
Let us recall that the UOC has accused the DESS of coercing the Church into unlawful actions.
