The Zbarazh City Council banned believers of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church from holding a procession through the city

On August 22, 2025, the Zbarazh City Council published a decision prohibiting participants in the Cross Procession of believers of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church from Kamianets-Podilskyi to the Pochaiv Lavra from passing through the city. The city administration did not specify the reasons for the ban. Later, a similar ban was also published by the Zbarazh Territorial Community. This was reported by the regional publication Gazeta Misto.

The decision “on the prohibition of walking,” as the Zbarazh City Council called this discriminatory document, was adopted for the period of August 26-27. It is on these days that a large-scale procession, in which thousands of believers of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church are heading to the Holy Dormition Pochaiv Lavra, is to take place in the Zbarazh area.

Earlier, the Ternopil Regional Administration expressed outrage that the believers of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church did not warn them about their plans to hold a procession through the region. The Regional State Administration reminded that since 2022, there has been a ban on mass religious events in the region, and no one has canceled it this year.