Ukrainian Government Doubles Down on Politically Motivated Findings, Process for Termination of Ukrainian Orthodox Church Diocese to Begin

Kyiv, September 3, 2025 – An order issued by Viktor Yelensky, head of the State Service of Ukraine for Ethnic Policy and Freedom of Conscience (DESS), confirmed that according to DESS, an affiliation remains between the Kyiv Metropolia (the head diocese) of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) and the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC). The order, which moves the process to ban the UOC to a critical stage, was issued despite no evidence of any administrative ties between the two organisations being presented.  

The consequences of the decision include the bringing of affiliates of the Kyiv Metropolia into enforcement proceedings under Law 3894 (formerly Draft Law 3871), the bill that sets out the legal framework to ban the UOC. Furthermore, any lease agreements for municipal property rented by the Kyiv Metropolia will be terminated, even before the conclusion of any court process, a point criticised by the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) due to its contravention of established norms. Finally, the court process for the outright termination of the Kyiv Metropolia will begin, which carries with it limited appeal rights.

Mr. Yelensky’s order is based on a finding by so-called experts that the UOC remains a subordinate of the ROC. Their finding intentionally ignored the UOC’s self-governance since 1990, its separation of ties with the ROC in 2022 after backing Ukraine in the war against Russia, and its undertaking of practical steps to prove this separation, including the setting up of parishes abroad to serve the needs of Ukrainian refugees, something that is a clear sign of independence, as noted by leading scholars of Orthodoxy.  

It should be noted that the ‘experts’ on the commission are employees of DESS and are therefore political appointees, chosen in the context of a government seeking to rid the country of independent institutions, with the UOC being one of the few remaining. Ukraine seeks to destroy this one-thousand-year-old religious organisation and force believers to worship in the state-supported Orthodox Church of Ukraine, as explored in the White Paper published by Amsterdam & Partners LLP titled ‘Ukraine’s War on Religious Freedom’.

It is worth repeating that Law 3894 has been condemned by Pope Francis, the OHCHR, Human Rights Watch and the US mission to the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe. In particular, the Church of England reported that Ukraine’s religious policy:

“Threatens collective punishment… it encourages ethno-religious nationalism that will be detrimental to Ukraine’s long term Western trajectory. It does not recognise the great lengths that the UOC has taken to distance itself from the ROC or the fact that many of its members serve faithfully as Ukrainian citizens in the country’s armed forces – often with immense cost… When people are attacked because of their religion or beliefs, we are all diminished”.

Amsterdam & Partners LLP will continue to fight for religious freedom and defend the rights of UOC adherents. Robert Amsterdam, Founder and Managing Partner of Amsterdam & Partners LLP, believes that “states must not interfere in religious matters at any time – but especially not during a war, when rash decisions only serve to further entrench the divides in society”. His words echo the Church of England’s concern, which is that Ukraine’s efforts to restrict religious freedom “threatens (its own) social cohesion at a time when it needs a unified societal response to Russian aggression”.

Amsterdam & Partners LLP is an international law firm specialised in political advocacy and human rights, based in London and Washington, DC. To learn more about the case, please visit www.savetheuoc.com, and for information about the firm, see www.amsterdamandpartners.com. Media inquiries may be directed to contact@amsterdamandpartners.com.