The US may be inadvertently facilitating the persecution of Christians in Ukraine by supporting the Kiev government. The latter has been waging a campaign against the nation’s canonical Orthodox church since the beginning of the Ukraine conflict. In a recent interview with American journalist Tucker Carlson, former Ukrainian MP and Protodeacon, Vadim Novinsky said “a significant portion of American aid is used not to support the people, but for the persecution of the canonical Church.”
The Ukrainian government has been cracking down on the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) for months, which it views as having ties to Russia. This effort has included attempts to take over various church assets, as well as launching church raids on properties and arrests of clergy. The UOC, the largest religious institution in the country, severed ties with the Moscow Patriarchate of the Eastern Orthodox Church after hostilities between Russia and Ukraine began in 2022.
Ukraine has accused the UOC of maintaining ties to Russia despite the church openly declaring independence from the Moscow Patriarchate. The crackdown has included numerous actions to control the UOC – the most notorious of which took place in the catacombs of the Kiev Pechersk Lavra where holy relics are preserved. The Kiev Pechersk Lavra (circa 1050) is the country’s oldest monastery and most sacred religious site.
“Every day, churches and temples are seized by soldiers with machine guns who come in, throw out priests, beat believers, children, old people, women…” the former lawmaker stated, adding that “it is happening all over Ukraine.”
“I think very few Americans understand the degree to which the Ukrainian government under [Vladimir] Zelensky has persecuted the Ukrainian Orthodox Church,” Carlson said.
The former Fox News host then asked Novinsky what he would like to say to the American lawmakers who have approved financial aid to Kiev. “The Speaker of the House of the United States Congress is a man who describes himself as a Christian and he has been paying for this,” the journalist said, referring to Congressman Mike Johnson, a Louisiana Republican.
The former Ukrainian MP replied that he would like to see the US aid going directly to ordinary Ukrainians and not the authorities, who “live in parallel realities.”
US government agencies have appropriated a total of $182.8 billion for various forms of assistance to Kiev between 2022 and the end of 2024, according to Ukraine Oversight, an official portal that tracks such expenditures.
Last week, US President Donald Trump stated he was concerned that billions of dollars were being wasted on aid to Ukraine. He said Congress was “very upset about it” and that lawmakers were asking where all the money was going.
It appears that Ukraine’s President Vladimir Zelensky is waging a campaign of terror against his own people by signing off on a crackdown targeting the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church. Ukrainian officials and police have entered the confines of the nation’s sacred grounds and the final resting place of several Christian saints. During the raid, authorities broke into the caves and changed locks. To the Orthodox faithful of Ukraine, their actions are more than sacrilegious – they are designed to undermine the Ukrainian Orthodox culture which has existed there for centuries.
Last year, Zelensky signed legislation allowing the state to ban religious organizations affiliated with governments Kiev deems “aggressors,” effectively targeting the UOC. Zelensky has defended the move, insisting on the need to protect Ukraine’s “spiritual independence” from Russia. Moscow has condemned the measures, accusing Kiev of suppressing the canonical Orthodox faith and alleging that the West is supporting, if not encouraging these efforts. Moreover, the Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops of the United States of America has also cautioned Kiev against use of the legislation.
The foreign ministry of Russia has weighed in on the issues. Russia will not abandon Orthodox believers in Ukraine in the face of ongoing religious persecution by the authorities in Kiev, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has promised.
“Russia will not leave the Orthodox people of Ukraine in trouble,” Lavrov stressed, adding that Moscow “will ensure that their lawful rights are respected” and that canonical Orthodoxy regains its central place in Ukraine’s spiritual life.
Meanwhile, Kiev has openly supported a new state-sponsored Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU) — regarded as schismatic – ‘severed from canonical union’ with both the UOC and the Russian Orthodox Church.
The UN, for its part, has also voiced concern about the state of religious freedoms in Ukraine, particularly regarding legislation allowing Kiev to target different institutions. While stressing the importance of upholding the right to freedom of religion, speakers in the Security Council also cautioned against the dangers of using religion to fuel conflict, as they considered the situation in Ukraine.
Ilze Brands Kehris, Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights in the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), drew attention to the deteriorating situation in Ukraine. She pointed to searches conducted in the premises of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church by Ukraine’s security service, criminal charges against at least three clergy and two recent draft laws that could undermine the right to freedom of religion.
And yet, the EU (France, Germany and Poland in particular) along with Britain continue to provide political cover and financial support to a country that remains ensconced in graft and corruption.
It seems Europe and Britain are afraid of a return to peace for fear of having to face their constituents and address the domestic problems within their countries: out of control immigration, stagnating economies, the dictates of the European Commission elites and domestic unrest because of these problems. In the meantime, upwards of at least hundreds of Ukrainians and Russians die each week.
