Archpriest Oleksandr Moskovchuk. Attempted Unlawful Mobilization of a Clergyman

Archpriest Oleksandr Moskovchuk. Attempted Forced Mobilization of a UOC Priest

June 10, 2025

On June 10, 2025, employees of the Territorial Recruitment and Social Support Center (TRC) detained Archpriest Oleksandr Moskovchuk, rector of the UOC Holy Trinity Church in the village of Troiandove, on the territory of the Dobroslav community of Odesa District.

This was reported by the press service of the Odesa Diocese.

"Despite his age and poor health, as well as the canonical impossibility of taking up arms and the legal impossibility of mobilizing him, the clergyman was and continues to be coerced into signing a military service contract, through threats and psychological pressure, being transported to various TRC offices and military units in Odesa Oblast and across Ukraine," the statement reads.

The diocese noted that the clergyman had spent four days in TRC barracks and had been "groundlessly deprived of the opportunity to see his family and fulfill his pastoral duties."

(Source: Odesa Diocese of the UOC)

On June 15, 2025, the clergyman was released from TRC custody.

(Source: Odesa Diocese of the UOC)