The US publication The Wall Street Journal has published material in which it justifies the actions of the Ukrainian authorities aimed at banning the activities of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. The publication cites standard propaganda clichés spread in Ukraine by supporters of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

The author of the publication Gillian Kay Melchior, describing the religious situation in Ukraine, convinces readers that reports about persecution and attempts to ban the UOC are “the product of a PR campaign and lobbying”. The journalist accuses the American lawyer Robert Amsterdam, who represents the interests of the UOC, of misinforming the American establishment by spreading allegedly untrue information about the violation of the rights of believers in Ukraine.

“The UOC MP provided material support for Russia’s invasion of Crimea and eastern Ukraine in 2014,” and Russian soldiers used church buildings “as military warehouses, field hospitals and even combat positions during the full-scale invasion”, – the WSJ journalist writes, justifying the UOC’s ban.

Furthermore, in the same publication, Gillian Kay Melchior engages in blatant propaganda for the OCU, pointing out that Ukrainians should not stay in the UOC because they have an “alternative.”

“The Orthodox of Ukraine have an alternative. Five years ago, the Patriarch of Constantinople recognized a fully independent, self-governing Orthodox Church of Ukraine. But the Russian Orthodox Church and the UOC-MP refuse to recognize the OCU. Many church communities moved from the UOC-MP, this trend accelerated after February 2022”, – stated in the article.

We will remind, earlier we reported that during the years from 2020 to 2024 the Office of the President of Ukraine paid for information campaigns in Western countries to maintain the image of Ukraine and promote the interests of the state. One of the areas that the President’s Office was working on was also discrediting the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in the Western media.