Italian media: Ukraine persecutes the largest denomination, drawing international criticism

The Italian edition of L’Identità has published an article in which it claims that the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) is being persecuted by the Ukrainian authorities on a large scale. According to the publication, the UOC, which is the country’s largest denomination, is subject to massive searches, arrests of priests and attempts to ban it by law. This fact has drawn criticism at the international level, in particular from the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.

According to L’Identità, the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church, which the publication called “by far the first in terms of the number of believers,” faces “all kinds of persecution.” The article describes the seizure of churches by the state, “arbitrary arrests” of priests, and the parliament’s decision to effectively ban the UOC. The Italian edition emphasizes that this ban was criticized by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, who in an official report recognized it as “not in line with international law.” According to the UN, this measure “constitutes a serious restriction affecting the ability of people to manifest their faith”, while “Ukraine has not demonstrated the necessity and proportionality of this measure”.

The centerpiece of L’Identità’s investigation is the case of Metropolitan Arseny, who is called “a widely known and respected religious figure in eastern Ukraine.” The bishop was arrested by the SBU after a sermon in September 2023, in which he “simply complained about military checkpoints in the Donetsk region that prevented numerous pilgrims from outside from reaching the monastery.” For this, he faces up to eight years in prison. The journalists note that the court “systematically ignores all the requests of lawyers for alternative measures of restraint” despite the sharp deterioration in the health of the hierarch, who suffers from severe heart disease and needs surgery. However, many representatives of Ukrainian society – politicians, public figures and religious organizations – have expressed their support for the Metropolitan by signing an appeal demanding his release, and believers are constantly filling the courtrooms.

According to the authors of L’Identità, the case of Metropolitan Arseniy is not an isolated one. The publication refers to the former head of the SBU Vasily Malyuk, according to whom, from 2022 to 2024, more than 41,000 inspections of the UOC were conducted, more than 350 church buildings were searched, and 170 criminal cases were opened against the Orthodox clergy under articles including “high treason,” “aiding the aggressor country” and “inciting religious hatred.” Some of the convicted clergymen were exchanged for prisoners of war and sent to Russia, and more than fifty clerics were deprived of Ukrainian citizenship. In addition, after the seizure of the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra in March 2023, its abbot, Metropolitan Pavel, was placed under house arrest after appealing to President Zelensky to stop the eviction.

The Italian publication bitterly states that “despite all this, almost no one in Italy and Europe is talking about it – presumably because it does not fit into the narrative of Ukraine as a bastion of democracy that most mainstream media support.” However, some international figures have raised the issue. Among them is the current US Vice President J.D. Vance, who, as a senator from Ohio, made a speech in the Senate in April 2024 condemning the repression of Orthodox Christians. He called it a “disgrace” to refuse to use billions of dollars sent to Ukraine as leverage to ensure religious freedom. According to L’Identità, other figures close to the Trump administration, such as Congresswoman Anna Pauline Luna, entrepreneur Vivek Ramasavamy, and journalist Tucker Carlson, take similar positions. Since 2023, the interests of the UOC in international institutions have been represented by a well-known American lawyer Robert Amsterdam.

Earlier, on December 16, 2025, U.S. Congressman Eli Crane from Arizona called for an end to the persecution of Christians and the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) in Ukraine. According to the congressman, the country is showing disturbing authoritarian tendencies that are in sharp contrast to the fundamental principles of Western civilization and are of particular concern.