Commenting on the words of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy “when they talk about the church or about the language, I think: we have a war”, the head of the Representation of the UOC to European international organizations, Bishop Baryshevsky Viktor (Kotsaba), emphasizes that it is not clear why in order to stop violating the freedom of religion of believers of the UOC , you must first end the war in Donbass. I wrote about this in my Telegram channel.

“Volodymyr Zelensky urged first of all to solve the question: “what comes first?”, and he made it clear that the “church problem” can be solved after the war is over,” the hierarch writes.

He asks the question: “Firstly, it is not entirely clear why, in order to end the violation of the Constitution regarding the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and to abolish the anti-church laws, the war in Donbass must first be ended. By and large, non-observance of the basic Law of Ukraine, which guarantees freedom of religion, cannot be justified by military operations in the east of our country.

Secondly, it is not clear why, in order to stop the violation of the rights of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, one must first improve relations with the Russian Federation. Believers of the UOC are citizens of Ukraine, and then their rights should not depend on good or bad relations between our state and any other states.”