A mobilized cleric of the UGCC died at a firing range in Chernivtsi region

Orest Chernyi, a mobilized deacon of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGCC), died at a military training ground in Chernivtsi region on 29 November 2025. The death of the 46-year-old cleric, who was undergoing military exercises, has raised questions because, in addition to the official version of illness, his friend claims that the deacon was forcibly mobilized and bruises were found on his body.

According to the Glavkom publication, Deacon Orest Chernyi was mobilized to the 82nd separate airborne assault Bukovyna brigade. His death occurred at the 46th year of life during military exercises at the training ground. The report does not specify specific causes of death.

However, Lviv resident Petro Husak, a friend of the deceased, provided additional information about the circumstances of the cleric’s mobilization and death. According to him, on November 7, Orest Chernyi was «politely twisted and politely put in a bead» on Zelenaya Street when he was returning home from service. He was then, according to Gusak, driven around various military units, including Yavoriv and Zhytomyr, before being taken to Chernivtsi.

Petro Gusak also said that Deacon Chernyi spent the last days before his death in intensive care. The official cause of death was given as «bilateral pneumonia, kidney failure, and intestinal obstruction.» However, Gusak notes that «who last saw him, says: the body in bruises», which casts doubt on the voiced version and raises questions about the circumstances of the death of the mobilized cleric.

We will remind, in Cherkassy on November 4, 2025 employees of the Territorial Center of Completion (TCC) and the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) detained Igor Golubchik, a lawyer of the local diocese of the UOC. The incident, which the source describes as a kidnapping, took place outside the courthouse immediately after a session on the case of the communal debt of St. Michael’s Cathedral