OCU supporters seize UOC temple in Bukovina with support of police special forces

on March 11, 2026, in the village of Komariv, Chernivtsi region, the Assumption Church of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) was handed over to representatives of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU) in the presence of a special forces unit and 10 police crews. Despite the previous guarantees of the local starosta about a peaceful resolution of the situation, the UOC believers faced the unexpected presence of law enforcement agencies, the UOJ reports.

According to the clergyman, Fr. Clement, the UOC parishioners agreed to give the keys to the church, hoping that they would be able to continue worshiping in the old small church located on the same territory. However, in the morning, they found many police officers and a bus with a special unit near the church. “The starosta said that he ‘does not know’ how the special forces got there,” the source said.

Later, the notorious OCU raider Roman Hryshchuk arrived at the scene and called for such “peaceful transitions” to be perceived as “the will of God.” The agreements that the UOC community would be left with the old church turned out to be fraudulent: the believers were forbidden to hold services there. Now they have to travel to a neighboring village to attend services and look for a place to pray in Komariv, which is complicated by rising real estate prices due to the influx of migrants.

As reported, on February 20, 2026, an incident occurred in the village of Shchaslyve near Kyiv with the seizure of the St. Nicholas Church of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church: supporters of the OCU broke the locks and installed their own. The legal community of the UOC, despite previous attempts to transfer the church, continues to defend its rights.