In the Zaporizhzhia region, the occupiers seized a church and banned worshippers from praying
In the temporarily occupied territory of Zaporizhzhia Oblast, in the city of Tokmak, representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate seized the Church of Saints Peter and Paul and prohibited local parishioners from holding services.
This was reported by the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church.
According to the church, the seizure of the church took place on April 12. After that, local believers were prohibited from visiting the church and praying.
Instead, the church is occupied by outsiders who present themselves as “parishioners.”
The head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, Sviatoslav, strongly condemned these actions, emphasizing their symbolic nature and the timing of their occurrence:
“This is blasphemy against the Risen Lord—the Prince of Peace! And on the very feast of Easter.”
The Donetsk Exarchate of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church reports systematic persecution of believers in the occupied territories.
According to their data, people who defend their right to faith are being persecuted and face up to 15 years in prison. Repression is applied regardless of age or health condition
The Church emphasizes that such actions constitute a deliberate violation of the right to freedom of conscience and religion.
As a reminder, in the village of Bezuglivka in the Chernihiv region, local residents cut off the locks on the church doors to gain entry. The incident occurred on the evening of April 15.
