The Ukrainian parliament voted to ban the Russian-linked Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UPC), BGNES reported.
Kyiv is cutting religious, social and institutional ties with organizations it considers linked to Moscow.
At today's meeting of the Verkhovna Rada, 265 deputies voted in favour of approving a bill banning religious organizations linked to Russia, including the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, which is affiliated with the Moscow Patriarchate, local media reported.
To enter into force, the decision must be signed by President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Ukraine accuses the UOC of channelling Russian interests and supporting Russia's aggression.
According to a poll conducted in June 2023 by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology, two-thirds of Ukrainians support a complete ban on the UOC.
The head of the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC), Patriarch Kirill, has repeatedly expressed his support for the invasion and told believers that Putin's rule over Russia was ordained by God. | BGNES
After the full-scale Russian invasion, the UOC declared independence from the Russian Orthodox Church but did not declare itself autocephalous.
The Orthodox Church in Ukraine operates in the country with the official name of the Kyiv Metropolitanate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, which was proclaimed in 2018 at the Unification Council in Kyiv. A year later, she received autocephaly from the Patriarchate of Constantinople, which caused an insoluble conflict between the Russian Patriarch Kirill and the Ecumenical - Bartholomew. | BGNES
