On Saturday, 10 June 2023, the Head of the Ukrainian State Service for Ethnic Affairs and Freedom of Conscience, Mr. Viktor Yelensky, visited the headquarters of the Ecumenical Patriarchate at the Phanar.
Mr. Yelensky was received by His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, to whom he expressed the warm wishes of the Ukrainian State and himself personally for his name day, and they also had the opportunity to discuss current issues.
The high-ranking Ukrainian official was accompanied by the Ambassador of Ukraine in Ankara, Mr. Vasyl Bodnar, with the Consul General of the country in Constantinople, Mr. Roman Nedilskyi, and the Consul, Mr. Maksym Vdovychenko.
Also present for the meeting was the Grand Ecclesiarch and Director of the Personal Patriarchal Office, Archimandrite Aetios, as well as the Patriarchal Deacon Fr Epiphanios Kamianovich who is of Ukranian origin, who aided in interpretation during the important meeting.