Azov Commander Calls for Exchange of Ukrainian POWs for UOC Clergy

Colonel Denys Prokopenko, commander of the 1st Operational Corps of the National Guard of Ukraine “Azov,” has called for Ukrainian prisoners of war to be exchanged for clergy of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, whom he referred to as “Moscow priests.” He made this proposal while commenting on the latest prisoner exchange between Ukraine and Russia. The statement was reported by the “Pershyi Kozatskyi” channel.

Prokopenko complained that once again, no Azov servicemen were included in the list of released prisoners, despite repeated claims about their supposed priority. He blamed this on the “state mechanisms,” which he said continue to ignore the fate of Azov fighters.

“I believe that priests of the Moscow Patriarchate who openly work for Russian intelligence services should be of more interest to the Russians than soldiers, with whom the Russian Federation floods Ukrainian soil,” the commander stated.

As noted by the authors of “Pershyi Kozatskyi,” Prokopenko essentially proposed exchanging some Ukrainian citizens for others — prisoners of war for priests.

Earlier, it was also reported that Metropolitan Kliment (Vecheria), head of the Synodal Information and Education Department of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, commented on the initiative of the State Service of Ukraine for Ethnopolitics and Freedom of Conscience to conduct an inspection of the Kyiv Metropolis of the UOC regarding alleged affiliation with foreign centers. The hierarch insists that the anti-church law No. 3894 has no legal grounds in relation to the UOC, as there is no mention in any of the Church’s statutory documents of any external control.