Kyiv. OCU fighters and clergy cut locks and seized a UOC church

Church of the Holy Martyr John the Warrior (UOC)

Address: Kyiv, Bykivnia district, 45 Radystiv St.

The St. John's Church of the UOC became the second church in Kyiv to be seized by a criminal group from the OCU.

The group of raiders had previously forged documents for the church by staging a fictitious meeting of the territorial community. People with no connection whatsoever to the religious community of the church voted, in the name of the UOC community, for the so-called "transfer to the OCU."

Representatives of the Brovary city authorities facilitated the raider seizure of the church.

The crime in Kyiv was made possible by the fact that the Bykivnia district had only recently been annexed to the city. The church's location on the outskirts allowed the raiders to carry out the falsification unnoticed.

The church was seized by a group of hired fighters and handed over to the disposal of OCU Archbishop of Donetsk and Mariupol Serhiy Horobets.

On November 4, 2025, the Kyiv City Military Administration issued Decree No. 1107 on the re-registration of the UOC community of Martyr John the Warrior (Desnyansky district of Kyiv) into the OCU. The decree was signed by KCMA head Tymur Tkachenko.

The text states that the re-registration was carried out on the basis of "an application from an authorized representative" of the UOC community. It also states that on September 22, 2025, a purported meeting of the UOC community took place, which resolved to transfer to the OCU.

According to sources within the community of the "DOZOR on the First Cossack" project, the unknown individuals whom the criminals had at one point transported to the meeting to falsify the "religious community vote" did not even know the address or location of the church.

The individual appointed by OCU activists to the position of "director of the religious organization" learned of the risks of criminal liability and withdrew from further participation.

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Tkachenko amended Decree No. 2511 on the registration of the UOC community dated December 29, 1998, and ordered the Department of Culture of the executive body of the KCCA to affix a registration stamp on the Charter of the John the Warrior community.

The rector of the community is Archimandrite Pavlo (Serheyev). As sources within the community told the SPJ, no meeting regarding a transfer to the OCU took place either on September 22 or on any other day. Both the rector and the parishioners of the church learned of the "transfer" from the internet.

(Source: SPJ)

On February 13, 2026, a group of OCU activists and clergy arrived at the church.

They brought forged documents for the church and proposed that the faithful hand over the keys voluntarily.

The church's rector, Archimandrite Pavlo, asked the activists to allow the UOC faithful to at least hold a memorial service for a fallen soldier — the son of a parishioner. The raiders gave their consent.

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

On February 14, 2026, as Orthodox Christians were gathering for prayer, cars carrying a group of unknown individuals pulled up to the shrine.

The raiders cut the door hinges and began seizing the premises of the church complex.

The raider seizure of the St. John's Church took place as a result of the parish's active legal defense.

A legal process began during which egregious violations by OCU raiders in the falsification of documents for the church were identified.

Sources of the "DOZOR on the First Cossack" project assert that former Kyiv City Council deputy Mykola Leheza is behind the raider seizure and document forgery.

Brovary City Council deputy Bohdana Drach and Kyiv Oblast Council deputy Oleksiy Doroshenko took part in the crime.

The raider seizure was overseen by OCU Archbishop of Donetsk and Mariupol Serhiy Horobtsov and cleric of the OCU Kyiv Eparchy Oleksandr Lyman.

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Furthermore, servicemen of the "Bratstvo" battalion under the Main Directorate of Intelligence of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine were recorded at the scene of the crime.

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The OCU raiders spent the entire day looting the church.

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In addition, the criminal group was preparing to evict the church's rector, Archimandrite Pavlo, from his home — a clergyman who built the church and the entire complex with his own efforts, and who is moreover a person with a Category I disability.

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