Kyiv Regional Council adopts decision on UOC (MP) activities, over 300 of its parishes still active in region – deputy
The Kyiv Regional Council, at its meeting on Thursday, adopted a decision "On the implementation of the legislation of Ukraine regarding the protection of the constitutional order in the sphere of activities of religious organizations in the territory of the Kyiv region," which concerns the activities of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate), reported Roman Tytykalo, a deputy of the Kyiv Regional Council from the European Solidarity party and initiator of the decision.
"Between 2019 and 2025, 307 religious communities (in the Kyiv region – IF-U) transitioned from the UOC MP to the OCU. This testifies to the conscious choice of communities and support for the spiritual independence of Ukraine. At the same time, more than 300 religious communities of the UOC MP continue to function in the region, despite the Law of Ukraine 'On the Protection of the Constitutional Order in the Sphere of Activities of Religious Organizations' and the decision of the State Service of Ukraine for Ethnopolitics and Freedom of Conscience (DESS) dated August 27, 2025, recognizing the Kyiv Metropolia of the UOC as affiliated with a foreign religious organization whose activities are prohibited in Ukraine," Tytykalo wrote on Facebook on Thursday.
According to him, he initiated the draft decision to ensure the implementation of legislation and "complete the process of bringing the activities of religious communities into compliance with the requirements of the law."
"By the decision of the regional council: it is recommended that district military (state) administrations and local self-government bodies assist religious communities in holding meetings regarding changes in subordination in canonical and organizational matters; ensure proper information for citizens on the procedure for changing the subordination of religious organizations; assist in the preparation of necessary documents for changing the subordination of communities in a legal manner; and conduct constant monitoring of the use of communal property by religious organizations, specifically to prevent its use by structures whose activities are prohibited by Ukrainian legislation," Tytykalo wrote.
The deputy emphasized that these actions are taken within the framework of the Constitution and laws of Ukraine and "in the interests of national security, the rights of citizens, and the protection of Ukrainian statehood."
As previously reported, on August 20, 2024, the Verkhovna Rada adopted in the second reading and as a whole a bill banning the activities of religious organizations affiliated with the Russian Orthodox Church in Ukraine (No. 8371). On August 29, 2025, the DESS filed a lawsuit in court to terminate the activities of the UOC (MP), which was recognized as affiliated with the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC).
The State Service for Ethnopolitics and Freedom of Conscience reported that in 2022-2025, 1,378 religious communities transitioned from the UOC (MP) to the OCU. The largest number of transitions occurred in the Kyiv region (306), Khmelnytskyi region (295), Vinnytsia region (159), Zhytomyr region (128), and Cherkasy region (104). Conversely, the fewest transitions occurred in Kyiv (6), Kherson region (6), Kharkiv region (6), Mykolaiv region (6), Ivano-Frankivsk region (4), and Dnipropetrovsk (4), while in the Luhansk, Donetsk, and Zaporizhia regions, no religious communities transitioned to the OCU over the four-year period.
The Service also reported that as of January 1, 2025, there were 10,118 religious organizations of the UOC (MP) in Ukraine, 9,792 of which were religious communities.
