Ukrainian delegation to the U.S. persuaded congressmen to respect freedom of conscience

on February 4, 2026, a meeting was held in Washington, DC, between Olena Kovalska, Deputy Head of the Office of the President, Viktor Yelensky, Head of the State Service of Ukraine for Ethnopolitics and Freedom of Conscience (DESS), and Darrell Aysa, U.S. Congressman from the Republican Party (California). The key topic of the talks was «reaffirmation of the inviolability of freedom of conscience in Ukraine even in the conditions of a full-scale war». This is reported by the website of the DESS.

The American politician, who demonstrates a constant interest in the issues of state-church relations and religious freedom, discussed a wide range of issues in detail with the Ukrainian side. In the course of the conversation, the head of the State DESS, Viktor Yelenskyy, highlighted in detail the current state of affairs on the topic of observance of religious freedom in Ukraine.

It is noted that Victor Yelensky paid considerable attention to «large-scale disinformation campaigns carried out with the involvement of religious factor against Ukraine in order to discredit it in the international arena».

Part of the conversation was also devoted to the observance of human rights in Ukraine in general, and religious rights in particular, as well as the general situation in the Orthodox world. Viktor Yelensky emphasized that Article 35 of the Constitution of Ukraine, which guarantees freedom of worldview and religion, does not undergo any restrictions. Freedom of conscience in Ukraine remains inviolable even in the conditions of a full-scale war.

For his part, Congressman Aisa emphasized that this is of fundamental importance, as religious freedom should not be subject to any restrictions and constitutes the fundamental basis of human dignity, existentiality and being of communities.

We would like to remind you that earlier we reported that the State Service of Ukraine for Ethno-politics and Freedom of Conscience (DESS) initiated an investigation into the possible affiliation of the monastery «St. Pokrovskaya Goloseevskaya Desert» of the Kiev Metropolitanate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church with the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC), a foreign religious organization banned in Ukraine. This decision was made against the background of significant public outcry and media reports concerning the monastery’s activities.