Almost 600 religious institutions have moved to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine since the beginning of the full-scale war. Currently, 8193 churches of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate) continue to operate in the country. UNN reports this with reference to data from Opendatabot.
"589 Ukrainian religious communities have moved from the patriarchate of the aggressor country to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine since the beginning of the full-scale invasion. Most religious institutions have changed their patriarchy in Kyiv (138), Khmelnytsky (125) and Vinnytsia (67) regions," the statement said.
It is reported that currently 8193 churches of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate) continue to operate in the country. 99% or 8119 of them, despite the requirements of the law, have not yet shown affiliation with the patriarchate of the aggressor country in their name.
In almost two years, only 59 religious institutions have been forcibly renamed in the Unified State Register to reflect their connection to the Russian Federation. It is worth noting that all of these renamings took place during the first year of the full-scale invasion. In 2023, none of the religious institutions received such a name in the USR.
"Since the beginning of the great war, only 8 religious institutions have moved to the OCU, having received a forced name in the Unified State Register. The largest number of churches associated with the aggressor country was recorded in Donetsk region - 683. A significant number of religious institutions of the UOC also remained in Vinnytsia region - 534. The anti-rating includes Dnipropetrovs'k region (527) and again Khmelnytsky region - 506 religious institutions," the report says.
Addendum
The Verkhovna Rada supported in the first reading a bill banning religious organizations affiliated with the Russian Federation.