Velyka Yablunivka. OCU Raiders Threatened Violence Against Those Who Did Not Support Them

Church of the Apostle John the Theologian (UOC)

Address: Cherkasy Oblast, village of Velyka Yablunivka

A group of OCU raiders organized an illegal meeting of the territorial community, at which people having no relation whatsoever to the parish of the Holy-Johannine UOC church transferred the church to the OCU.

At the same time, both OCU clergy and their supporters openly admitted that none of them had ever attended the church.

Moreover, the criminal group threatened to forcibly expel from the village those who refused to vote for the so-called "transfer" of the community to the OCU.

February 8, 2026, in the village of Velyka Yablonivka, Cherkasy region, an attempt was made to change the canonical affiliation of the religious community of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church by processing documents for the "transfer" of the church to the structure of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine.

According to information from the project "DOZOR on First Cossack," a process began in the settlement to transfer the John the Theologian Church of the UOC to the OCU. To hold the meeting, individuals who had no connection to the parish were brought to the church, and they participated in making decisions and signing documents.

Representatives of the OCU openly stated that they were collecting signatures to transfer the parish. At the same time, there were statements that the church should be "under the national flag," and the services, according to them, should be conducted "in Ukrainian, not in the dead Old Slavonic language."

After the meeting, the participants of the action chanted nationalist slogans and left the church grounds.

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The former rector of the Holy John the Theologian Church, an elderly priest, addressed the gathering with a call to give glory to God, but his words were not heeded by the participants.

One of the OCU clergy directly confirmed that none of the activists he had gathered had attended the church. In fact, he publicly admitted to the crime and the falsification of documents.

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His words are corroborated by the criminal group itself, which likewise emphasizes that they did not attend the church due to their ideological preferences.

Threats of forcible expulsion from the village were also recorded against those who would refuse to vote for the OCU.

(Source: UOJ)

(Source: "DOZOR on the First Cossack" Project)