A member of the Verkhovna Rada from the European Solidarity faction, Mykola Knyazhytskyy, has said that the Ukrainian authorities are planning to merge the Ukrainian Orthodox Church with the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, RIA Novosti has reported.

According to the MP, the two structures are “Ukrainian churches of Kyiv baptism” and the task of the authorities is “to do everything for their development, cooperation and common future” in the interests of “defense of national security.”

“Both the OCU and the UGCC are headed by metropolitans. Neither of the Ukrainian churches has a patriarchate. Our goal is to obtain it for both churches and promote their unification,” Knyazhytskyy said.