“Epiphaniy’s Close Associate” Oversees Military Draft Notices to UOC Clergy

Clergy members of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) in various regions of Ukraine have begun receiving summonses to military enlistment offices, bypassing local territorial recruitment centers. It has become known that the large-scale distribution of summonses is overseen by the head of the Chaplain Service of the Land Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Colonel Larysa Polyanska. This was reported by UOJ citing its own sources.

It is reported that a database containing the addresses and personal information of UOC clergy across the country was handed over to the structure led by Polyanska. As a result, summonses are sent out centrally from Kyiv, without the involvement of regional military commissariats. Some priests claim that local territorial recruitment centers are unaware of what is happening.

In case a clergyman is absent at his place of registration, he is reportedly immediately declared wanted.

Sources also claim that Polyanska maintains friendly relations with the head of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU), Epiphaniy Dumenko.

Recall that Colonel Larysa Polyanska was appointed head of the Chaplain Service of the Land Forces Command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The command noted that this is an «important step forward in implementing gender policy for the Ukrainian army.»