In Lutsk they demand to exclude the UOC from the Council of Churches under the city council

At a session of the Lutsk city council, a demand was made to exclude a representative of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church from the local Council of Churches. The initiative, voiced by a deputy, was motivated by «the links of this religious organization with Russia and the need to protect the constitutional order of Ukraine». The mayor did not react to the proposal.

According to the newspaper «Konkurent», a representative of the Civil Movement «SVILDOMI» Mikhail Nakhod made a proposal at the meeting on September 24. He called to exclude the head of the Volyn diocese of the UOC from the advisory body of the city council.

The MP recalled that a year ago the law on the protection of the constitutional order in the sphere of activities of religious organizations came into force. According to him, Russian-affiliated structures had enough time to break ties with the Moscow center, but did not do so. «Today no one has any doubt that the Russian Orthodox Church is an integral part of the Moscow totalitarian regime, fully controlled by Putin and his security services. It actively promotes «Russian peace» and war against Ukraine,» Mikhail Nakhod explained.

According to the MP, this step is necessary to facilitate the departure of religious organizations from the «enemy» structure, as well as to resume the full-fledged work of the Council of Churches, which has not met since 2021. This, he believes, will promote public unity and interfaith dialog in the community. The mayor of Lutsk did not comment on this demand, urging the deputies to proceed to the formation of the agenda.

Earlier, during the session of the City Council, Alla Zhupanyuk, a Lutsk City Council deputy from the Freedom Party, raised the issue of city shelters, which are also equipped in some churches in Lutsk. The reason was a recent incident that took place in the Cathedral of the Volyn diocese of the UOC in honor of All Saints of the Volyn land. Then, during one of the shelling of the city by Russian troops, people who came to shelter from the bombing with their pets were not allowed into the cathedral. Zhupanyuk demanded that the city authorities influence the situation so that in the future people could take shelter in the church, including with their pets.