OCU “priest” Georgiy Kovalenko said in an interview with LB.ua that “now there are from 100 to 200 monks and clergy in the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, of which 15% are ready to join the Orthodox Church of Ukraine.”

“As for the mood, the majority is waiting for how events will develop. The majority is non-subjective even from the point of view of the desire to express their position. We know about a certain extreme percentage of sincere lovers of the “Russian world” – this, I think, is 10-15%. And somewhere around 10-15% of people who would like changes and are ready for unity with the Orthodox Church of Ukraine. But again, the Lavra is a community monastery. They live together for many years. And they will pay attention to each other. As, for example, last week was the Synod of the Moscow Patriarchate. What progressive decisions could he make when there are four people directly in the Synod under sanctions? Of which two are deprived or suspended in citizenship. They have a choice between corporate and sincere and honest. Sometimes the corporate wins. Here, unfortunately, it seems to me that the corporate can win in the monastic community, because this internal device is closer, it is more understandable than the outside world, which is sometimes unknown or incomprehensible,” Kovalenko said.

He also noted that now there are more than 100 inhabitants in the Lavra.

“There are more than 100 inhabitants for sure, but less than 200. Somewhere in these limits. The question is, should novices be considered inhabitants? I didn’t dive deep, but I know that there are up to 200,” the representative of the OCU specified.