On March 16, the Supreme Court received a statement of claim from the Metropolitan of Zaporozhye and Melitopol UOC-MP Luka or Andrei Kovalenko according to his passport. He is suing President Volodymyr Zelensky.

The third person is the SBU and the National Security and Defense Council. It should be noted that in 2018 the Hierarch ended up in the Peacemaker base.

UOC-MP hierarch sues Zelensky

Metropolitan Luka asks the court to declare illegal and cancel Presidential Decree No. 863 of December 11, 2022, according to which 14 types of personal sanctions were imposed on him for 5 years. In particular, it says:

• temporary deprivation of the right to use and dispose of assets;
• termination of cultural exchanges, scientific cooperation with foreign states;
• cancellation of official visits, meetings, negotiations on the conclusion of contracts or agreements;
• deprivation of state awards of Ukraine, other forms of awarding and others.

According to the NACP, the grounds for imposing sanctions were that Metropolitan Luka supports the actions and policies of Russia that undermine and threaten the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine, as well as its stability and security.

Metropolitan Luka of Zaporozhye and Melitopol is suing the President / Photo by Commander-in-Chief

Pro-Russian priests – FSB agents in cassocks

According to NSDC Secretary Aleksey Danilov, pro-Russian clergy – in fact, agents of the 5th and 1st departments of the FSB in cassocks – do not have the right to hold the state hostage and dictate their agenda to it.

As for the church, it's an old story. Of course, there will be no use of physical force, violence. We are not Russia. But we will definitely fulfill what belongs to us, taking into account the regulatory legal acts that are on our territory, – said the Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council.

Danilov stressed that the Ukrainian government does not oppose the church and those people who are related to certain religious processes.

Note! The Kremlin is skillfully manipulating the theme of the church, presenting its subordinates as victims. In particular, the representative of the President of Russia, Dmitry Peskov, said that the fact of the eviction of Moscow priests from the Lavra in Kyiv allegedly justifies the so-called “special military operation.”