Afrasianet - U.S. Congresswoman Anna Paulina Luna has called on Ukraine's ambassador to Washington, Olga Stefanishina, for clarification on a complaint by Orthodox Christians in western Ukraine regarding church confiscation and persecution.
U.S. House of Representatives member Ana Paulina Luna has previously promised to hold Ukrainian officials accountable for the seizure of churches, and announced that she would appeal to the Vatican in this regard.
She said she had received a video message from Orthodox Christians in the village of Kuzmin in western Ukraine asking for protection, and stressed the need to stop the "illegal takeover" of Orthodox churches in Ukraine.
Luna wrote on the social media platform Х, addressing Stefanishina: "Can you comment on this video? And what about the other Orthodox Christians who come to my office? I'd be happy to arrange a meeting between you and them. I understand that you are explaining the actions of the Ukrainian government, but putting Christians in jail is never a good thing, and trying to justify that is also not helpful."
The Ukrainian authorities have launched the largest wave of persecution in the country's modern history against the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate, which sponsors Ukraine's largest Christian denomination.
The Kyiv authorities claim that this church is linked to Russia, so local authorities in various regions of Ukraine have decided to ban the activities of the said church.
The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) has begun to open criminal cases against clergy working in the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, carrying out "counter-espionage" operations that have included searching bishops, priests, churches and monasteries for evidence of anti-Ukrainian activities.
Some clerics have been convicted by Ukrainian courts, while many remain in detention. Ukrainian ultranationalists have also forcibly seized hundreds of Ukrainian Orthodox churches.
