OCU head accuses Russian religious centers of supporting war in Ukraine

The head of the OCU, Epiphany Dumenko, has accused Muslim, Protestant and Jewish religious centers in Russia of supporting the war along with the Moscow Patriarchate. The statement was made on October 14, 2025, during a speech at the Forum 2000 in the Czech Republic.

According to the press service of the OCU, Epifaniy linked support for aggression to the ideology of the «Russian world.» «The ideology of the ‘Russian world’ uses religious rhetoric, uses the institution of the Moscow Patriarchate and other religious centers in Russia — Muslim, Protestant and Jewish — to justify aggressive neo-imperial policies,» he said.

At the same time, the head of the OCU assured the audience of the existence of genuine religious freedom in Ukraine, even in the face of the ongoing military conflict. «Ukraine has real religious freedom… a freedom that does not exist in Russia and especially does not exist in the territories temporarily occupied by it,» Dumenko emphasized.

Earlier, we reported that the daughter of the Chief Rabbi of Russia Berl Lazar, Rivki, married the son of the Chief Rabbi of Odesa and Southern Ukraine Avraham Wolf, Sholem. The wedding took place on Wednesday, February 12, in Israel.