Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has signed a law that bans the Orthodox Church in Ukraine affiliated with the Moscow Patriarchate.
The law, passed by the Ukrainian parliament on Tuesday and signed by President Zelensky today—Ukraine’s Independence Day from the Soviet Union and two and a half years after the start of the Russian invasion—has sparked a strong reaction from Russia.
In his speech, President Zelensky expressed that this decision would reinforce Ukraine’s sovereignty and independence. “Orthodox Ukrainians are today taking a step towards their liberation from the demons of Moscow,” he stressed.
Since 2014, Ukraine has been striving to break free from Russian intellectual influence.
This process was accelerated by the granting of Autocephaly in 2018 by Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, making it independent from Moscow. The drive for independence intensified further with the onset of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, which was openly supported by the Moscow Patriarchate.
The Ukrainian Orthodox Church had announced in May 2022 that it was severing all relations with the Moscow Patriarchate. However, the Ukrainian government believes that this Church remains de facto dependent on Russia and criminal investigations are being carried out against its officials.
According to a poll conducted in 2023 by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology, 66% of Ukrainians support a ban on the Moscow-linked Church.
Moreover, 54% of Ukrainians identify with the independent Church and only 4% with the one subject to the Russian Patriarchate, according to a poll conducted in 2022 by the same organization. Last year these percentages were 42% and 18% respectively.
According to the media, the Russian-linked Church still controls about 9,000 parishes in Ukraine, compared with 8,000 to 9,000 parishes controlled by its independent rival.
Simultaneously, the Ukrainian president signed another bill approving Ukraine’s accession to the Rome Statute, the founding treaty of the International Criminal Court (ICC).
As a result, Ukraine has become a member of the ICC and now anticipates that the court will hold Russia accountable for the alleged war crimes committed against it.
The issue is particularly sensitive in Ukraine, where there is concern that Ukrainian soldiers engaged in the conflict with Russia might come under scrutiny by the ICC. The court’s mandate includes prosecuting perpetrators of genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes, raising fears about potential legal challenges for Ukrainian forces.
