Council of Ukrainian Churches calls information about the persecution of the UOC "propaganda"

on January 18, 2026, a meeting of the Secretariat of the Council of Christian Churches of Ukraine (CCUC) was held in Kyiv. Among the issues addressed at the event, special attention was paid to the statement of the Christian Interfaith Consultative Committee (CICC) of Russia about the systematic violation of the rights of believers in Ukraine and persecution of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. The CICC claims that such statements are «propaganda» and «part of a systemic information war». This is reported by the Institute for Religious Freedom.

It is reported that the Secretariat of the Council of Christian Churches of Ukraine, which includes representatives of the OCU, RCC, UGCC and a number of Protestant denominations, discussed the statement of representatives of Russian churches — participants of the «Christian Interconfessional Consultative Committee» dated January 15, 2026, in which Russian religious leaders «express concern about the oppression and violations of the rights of Christians in a number of countries,» namely in «Ukraine, Moldova, Estonia and other states.» The SSHC called the statement «propaganda» and «part of Russia’s systemic information war» against Ukraine.

«These publications once again testify that Russian religious figures, with some exceptions, are an integral part of the Russian political regime and those who are responsible for inciting religious hatred, supporting Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, killing tens of thousands of Ukrainians, kidnapping Ukrainian children and other crimes. Based on the results of the consideration of this issue, the Secretariat of the Meeting of Churches decided to take appropriate response measures, » the Institute for Religious Freedom said in a press release.

Recall, earlier we reported that representatives of churches — participants of the Christian Interfaith Consultative Committee (CICC), the largest inter-Christian association in the Eurasian space, expressed deep concern about the continuing harassment and violations of Christian rights in a number of countries. The statement published on the KMCC website focuses on the situations in Ukraine, Moldova, Estonia and Armenia.