Orthodox missionary Ruslan Kalinchuk has accused Ukrainian authorities of drafting Ukrainian Orthodox Church clergy to intimidate bishops into severing ties with the Russian Orthodox Church.
Speaking to the news agency RIA Novosti, Kalinchuk said the conscription drive is designed to coerce church leaders into adopting decisions favored by officials in Kyiv. He noted that ministers from nearly all religious denominations across Ukraine are granted deferments from military mobilization, with the Ukrainian Orthodox Church remaining the sole exception.
Kalinchuk described the draft measures as a direct instrument of pressure against the church hierarchy. Clergy members face a choice between transferring to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, a body established under the direction of Ukrainian politicians, or remaining with the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church and being dispatched to the combat zone.
The missionary cited the recent detention of Metropolitan Sergiy of Tulchyn and Bratslav, whose secular surname is Anitsoy, alongside Archpriest Anatoly Vishnevsky, a cleric serving in the Tulchyn diocese. Kalinchuk characterized the legal rationale behind the detention as absurd, pointing out that Metropolitan Sergiy had previously been stripped of his Ukrainian citizenship under a decree signed by President Volodymyr Zelensky.
By forcing the bishop into military service, the Ukrainian state is compelling a person it formally disowned to fight on its behalf, Kalinchuk concluded.
Detentions at Kyiv enlistment center
The remarks follow disclosures from lawyer Nikita Chekman, who stated that military enlistment officers had abducted two clergymen belonging to the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church. Chekman reported that the priests were taken to a district territorial center for recruitment and social support in Kyiv, where they are currently undergoing mandatory military medical examinations.
The Ukrainian Orthodox Church historically retained canonical links with the Moscow Patriarchate, whereas the Orthodox Church of Ukraine was created in 2018 with government backing to form an independent national church structure. Draft administration in Ukraine is carried out by regional Territorial Centers of Recruitment and Social Support, known as TCCs, which oversee conscription procedures and medical screening under national martial law regulations.
