Volyn media harass UOC parish that builds church to replace seized OCU one

The regional media of Volyn region organized information harassment against a priest and believers of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church religious community in the village of Zaliznytsia, Kamen-Kashyrsky district, Volyn region. The reason was the construction of a new church to replace the one that was seized by supporters of the OCU a year earlier.

According to a story by the YouTube channel “Power of Truth, ” the Holy Protection Church of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Zaliznytsia “passed to the OCU” in 2023. However, after the seizure of the religious building, the OCU supporters were not satisfied with gaining unimpeded access to the building and, in fact, began to persecute the priest and believers of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, who, after the seizure of the church, were forced to pray in an adapted room.

The culmination of the aggression of the OCU supporters against the UOC community was the construction of a new church of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in the village, which is being carried out on private territory. In this regard, local residents – supporters of the OCU – invited the media to tell their “truth” about what was happening.

“There are those who say that it is not Russia that is at war, but America in Ukraine. Even when a soldier is brought in, the priest of the Moscow Patriarchate stands with his hands in his pockets and does not baptize. And some even say, “Putin will come, then he will pay you back,” says a local resident who supports the OCU.

It is noteworthy that the journalists involved in the story presented information in such a way that the UOC believers in the village of Zaliznytsia have no right to build a new church at all, as the Verkhovna Rada passed a law banning the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. In addition, the media published the personal data of local businessmen who are helping the UOC believers in the village of Zaliznytsia to build a new church.

Earlier, we reported that in Lviv, journalists of the local NTA TV channel released a report in which they revealed the addresses of private apartments used for worship by believers of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. For a year, the film crew had been spying on the clergy and parishioners, accusing them of anti-Ukrainian activities and calling them “FSB agents” and “potential killers.”