“Another blow to the UOC”: The Cabinet of Ministers adopted a resolution on the procedure for transferring religious buildings to religious organizations for free use

On July 7, 2025, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, in accordance with Part 2 of Article 9 of the Law of Ukraine “On the Lease of State and Municipal Property,” adopted Resolution No. 854 “On Approval of the Procedure for Transferring State or Municipal Property that is Religious Property to a Religious Organization for Free Use (Loan).” This was reported by the Institute for Religious Freedom.

The specified procedure defines the procedure for transferring state or communal property that is religious property, in particular a religious building, structure, or complex of religious buildings, to a religious organization for free use (loan) for the purpose of conducting divine services, religious rites, ceremonies, processions, rituals, prayers, services, religious gatherings, religious education, and other types of religious practice.

At the same time, the document states that religious buildings that are in communal or state ownership may be transferred exclusively to religious organizations that are registered in Ukraine in accordance with current legislation. Thus, if the UOC is banned, the Church will lose the opportunity to use religious buildings that do not belong to the UOC on the basis of private property rights.

We will remind you that earlier, the head of the State Historical and Architectural Reserve “Ancient Kyiv” (part of the Ministry of Culture of Ukraine, — ed.) Roman Malenkov stated that in the near future, the “reserve” will begin work on the expropriation of the Pokrovsky and Florovsky monasteries of the UOC, as well as the Holy Cross and Ilyinsky churches, which are architectural monuments. Malenkov claims that it will be possible to take these religious buildings away from the Church thanks to a decision by the State Service for Ethnic Policy and Freedom of Conscience, which “found” signs of the UOC’s affiliation with the Moscow Patriarchate.