Khust Diocese of the UOC Denies Reports of “Bell from Voronezh”

The Khust Diocese of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church has denied information circulated by blogger Vitaliy Hlahola regarding the alleged delivery of a church bell from Russia to Zakarpattia. The diocese made the statement via its official Telegram channel.

According to Hlahola, customs officers detained a 150-kilogram bronze bell that was allegedly being transported from Voronezh for Hieromonk Panteleimon Rastvorov, reportedly affiliated with the Khust Diocese of the UOC.

In response, the Khust Diocese officially stated that the hieromonk mentioned in the publications is not under its canonical jurisdiction and does not serve within the diocese. The statement also emphasized that any claims regarding the diocese’s involvement in importing a bell from the Russian Federation are false and intended to discredit the Church.

The diocese called for objectivity in reporting and warned that it may pursue legal action in response to further defamatory statements.

It was also previously reported that Ukrainian propagandist, chief editor of the Left Bank media outlet, and OCU lobbyist Sonya Koshkina paid moral damages to Bishop Mykyta (Storozhuk) of Ivano-Frankivsk, a hierarch of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, after spreading false claims about him in media under her control. The payment was made in accordance with a court ruling that found her statements about the UOC bishop to be untrue.