On July 25, 2023, at the Holy Dormition Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, the Primate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, His Beatitude Metropolitan Onufry of Kiev and All Ukraine met with the Chairman of the State Service of Ukraine for Ethnopolitics and Freedom of Conscience Viktor Yelensky. This was reported by the Information and Educational Department of the UOC.

During the meeting, a number of issues related to the state-church policy in Ukraine were discussed.

During the conversation, His Beatitude Metropolitan Onufry noted that the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, in accordance with its structure, is endowed with all the rights that allow it to exclusively independently carry out a mission in Ukrainian society, and refuted reproaches regarding the influence of religious centers located outside the Ukrainian state on it.

The Primate also stressed that the general church position of the UOC is to fully support the actions of the authorities to preserve the sovereignty of Ukraine in all its territories, as well as in the fight against Russian aggression, which has been repeatedly covered in official documents adopted by synodal and conciliar decisions.