State Service for Ethnic Policy announces "transfer" of almost 1.4 thousand UOC parishes to OCU in three years

The State Service of Ukraine for Ethnic Policy and Freedom of Conscience (DESS) reported that almost 1,400 religious communities of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) “moved” to the OCU between 2022 and 2025. This data, covering three years, demonstrates significant changes in the religious map of the country, but raises questions about the voluntariness and legality of such processes, especially against the backdrop of ongoing legal disputes. This was reported by Interfax-Ukraine.

According to the information provided by the State Department of Economic and Social Studies, the total number of “transferred” communities is 1378. In 2022, 483 communities were legally re-registered, in 2023 – 471, in 2024 – 233, and in 2025 – 191. The largest number of such changes was recorded in Kyiv (306), Khmelnytskyi (295), Vinnytsia (159), Zhytomyr (128), and Cherkasy (104) oblasts. Notably, no official changes in the status of religious communities were registered in Luhansk, Donetsk, and Zaporizhzhia regions.

The SESU officials clarified that their statistics are based on data on official registrations of religious organizations with regional state administrations. They also admit that the process of “transitions” is accompanied by many legal and property disputes, which are especially acute in the western regions of Ukraine.

As we reported earlier, on the morning of November 11, 2025, a forceful seizure of the church of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in honor of the Chernobyl Savior icon took place in the city of Cherkasy . It is reported that representatives of the OCU, with the support of police officers and the Security Service of Ukraine, occupied the building, forcing the UOC community out of it.