UOC priest subjected to forced mobilization in Zhytomyr region

On February 19, 2025, in the Zhytomyr region, employees of the territorial recruitment center subjected Archpriest Pavel Kushnirchuk, a cleric of the Ovruch Diocese of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, to forced mobilization. The priest was taken to military units for several days, after which contact with him disappeared. This was reported on Facebook by the priest’s wife Natalia Kushnirchuk.

“Please spread the word! On February 19, in the morning, a priest (my husband), Pavlo Kushnirchuk, a clergyman of the Ovruch-Korosten diocese, was abducted by the TCC. He was taken to the Chernihiv direction. Yesterday evening they brought him to Zhytomyr, and at night they took him away again. I don’t know where they are going. He has not been in touch since he got on the bus. Please help me,” — the woman wrote.

We will remind, earlier we reported that on December 12, 2024, employees of the Beregovo Territorial Recruitment Center again subjected Archpriest John Rozman, secretary of the Khust Diocese of the UOC, to forced mobilization. The priest was detained for the second time in the last few months, despite the fact that he has documents that give him the right to officially defer military service. Believers of the Khust diocese tried to release Archpriest John from the local TCC, but armed officers of the department used firearms against them.