The current course of power, with the continuing discrimination of the UOC, is being “put into the ears” of President Volodymyr Zelensky by someone. Archpriest Vasily Rusinka, a representative of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in the Verkhovna Rada, said this in an interview.

“All this aggravates the crisis among the people, increases discontent among believers. It is not far from here to civil confrontation. Is it normal when the president keeps silent, not paying attention to the thousands of appeals of the clergy and believers who have seized churches?” he continued.

The representative of the UOC in the Verkhovna Rada stated that it has not yet been possible to establish constructive cooperation with the current composition of the Verkhovna Rada and noted with regret that there is no desire for dialogue with the UOC on the part of Volodymyr Zelensky and his parliamentary faction. “I would not want the horrors of the mini-wars for churches that I saw in the late 1980s to repeat itself on Ukrainian soil. Then our churches were seized, and now no one goes to them! But we do not need war, we need dialogue and acceptance of the interests of our Church, recognition of the rights of Orthodox believers. If the confrontation and the escalation of tension continue, it will not lead to anything good,” summed up the priest of the UOC.