The DESS confirmed the discrimination of UOC priests in the issue of reservation of clergy from mobilization

The State Service of Ukraine for Ethnopolitics and Freedom of Conscience (DESS) held a working meeting with representatives of the All-Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organizations (AUCCRO), during which the updated rules for reserving clerics from mobilization were explained. The main attention was paid to the issues of social work of congregations in war conditions and the procedure for granting deferments for clergy performing missions abroad.

According to reports on the agency’s Facebook page, the head of the DESS, Viktor Yelensky, informed participants about the new order of April 1, 2026. According to the document, clergy from «critical religious organizations» sent on foreign missions to conduct worship services and spiritual support for Ukrainian refugees are now eligible for the reservation. An obligatory condition for obtaining such a deferment is that the cleric is on consular registration.

A separate point of discussion was the situation with the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC). Representatives of the DESS confirmed that clerics of the UOC are not included in the reservation lists. According to the head of the department for religious affairs, Vyacheslav Gorshkov, this is due to the norms of the law No. 2662-VIII on renaming religious organizations whose governing center is located in the aggressor country. The ministry emphasized that in order to submit lists for deferment, the UOC needs to fulfill the requirements of this law, which actually implies official recognition of the connection with the Russian Orthodox Church.

It should be noted that earlier the hierarch of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church Metropolitan Anthony (Pakanich) drew attention to the fact that the All-Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organizations ignores the violation of the rights of clergy and believers of the UOC. The bishop cited the example of forced mobilization of the UOC clergy, noting that the All-Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organizations does not seem to notice what is happening.