On May 30, 2023, OCU raiders by force seized the Church of the Holy Great Martyr Demetrius of Thessalonica of the UOC in the village of Chernyakhiv, Kyiv region. The rector of the temple, Archpriest Mikhail Glushchak, spoke about the UOJ.

OCU activists cut the locks from the doors of the church with a grinder, without waiting for the court’s decision in the case of the illegal re-registration of the shrine.

According to the archpriest, the police did not react in any way to the aggressive actions of the OCU supporters, but on the contrary, they helped the raiders and used force against the parishioners of the temple.

“The police personally used force on me. When I asked the investigative team to let me into the church to take my personal belongings, they grabbed me by the neck and pulled me. The police helped them. They even used force on a 90-year-old grandmother. They tried to push our other parishioners by force into the car and take them to the department. They dragged the women,” Father Mikhail added.

Father Mikhail also said that now the temple is sealed, and the “priests” of the OCU have closed the shrine and do not hold any “worships” there.