On March 24, 2023, Bishop of Ivano-Frankivsk Nikita, commenting on the police detention of buses with pilgrims in Chernivtsi, said that in Ukraine there is terror against the UOC, reports the telegram channel of the Chernivtsi-Bukovina diocese of the UOC.

Bishop Nikita, who arrived at the buses with the pilgrims, who had already been held by the police for more than 2 hours, said that the problem was not that the representatives of the order did not have documents prohibiting the movement of believers, but that “there is an order from above.”

“There is no religious freedom in Ukraine now. There is terror in Ukraine! And there is some kind of special religious organization that is supported by the state, and there is some kind of not special one that needs to be oppressed in every possible way. And this is the Ukrainian Orthodox Church,” Bishop Ivano-Frankivsk said.