I am a Protopriest and previously served as a priest in the Holy Protection Podil Church in Kyiv. This is an Orthodox Church of Ukraine, our local church, which was established in 2018 and received the Tomos of Autocephaly from the Ecumenical Patriarch at the beginning of 2019. Within the church structure, I hold the position of Deputy Head of the Synodal Department for Military Chaplaincy of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine. This department is responsible for training chaplains among priests who can serve and work as military personnel and chaplains in the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the Border Guard Service, and various security structures in Ukraine.

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At the beginning of the full-scale invasion by the Russian Federation, I joined the volunteer battalion "Free Ukraine" as a volunteer chaplain. (The volunteer formation "Free Ukraine" operates based on the Law of Ukraine "On National Resistance" and is part of the Territorial Defense Forces.) After the active combat phase and the liberation of Kyiv, our battalion moved south, and until November, I served in the Mykolaiv region. There, I received a mandate granting me the right to perform chaplaincy duties in the Armed Forces and security structures of Ukraine. With this document, I underwent mobilization through the military commissariat and was assigned to a military unit. Currently, I serve as a lieutenant in the Chaplaincy Service of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

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Back in the late 20th century, our bishop, Volodymyr of Fastiv and Podil, initiated the tradition of pilgrimages to Solovki.(Solovki is a group of islands in the southwestern part of the White Sea at the entrance to Onega Bay. Known during the Tsarist era as a place of exile, under Soviet rule, it became the site of the first concentration camp. In 1920, a special system of camps was established on the Solovetsky Islands, known as the "Solovetsky Camp of Special Purpose" (Соловецкий лагерь особого назначения, SLON). Later, it was renamed the "Northern Camps of Special Purpose Administration" (Управление Северных Лагерей Особого Назначения, USLON). Among the prisoners on Solovki were many Ukrainians, most of whom perished there. By the end of 1938, prisoners were transferred to other camps (the fate of most remains unknown), and Solovki was turned into a naval base. From 1949, Solovki became a site for the liquidation of World War II disabled veterans.)​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

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In 1994, he led the first such pilgrimage with our parishioners, during which they commemorated Ukrainians, erected a memorial cross, and honored those who had fallen for Ukraine and the faith. That was inscribed on the cross. However, within nine days, Moscow monks tore down and burned the cross, likely because of the inscription. Later, such trips began to receive support at the state level, and I participated in these pilgrimages in 2011 and 2012. Unfortunately, I did not go in 2013, which turned out to be the last—prayerful and pilgrim-like—trip of our delegation to Solovki and Sandarmokh. (Sandarmokh (also known as Sandormokh) is a forest area in the Medvezhyegorsk District of the Republic of Karelia, located 19 kilometers from the town of Medvezhyegorsk and near the town of Povenets. Covering an area of 10 hectares, it is the site where, during the 1930s, the NKVD executed over 9,500 people of 58 different nationalities. The victims were primarily special settlers and prisoners who worked on the construction of the White Sea-Baltic Canal, as well as inmates from the Solovetsky camps of the Soviet GULAG system and residents of nearby villages. A total of 236 execution pits have been identified in this area. All those executed were later rehabilitated and officially recognized as victims of Stalinist terror.)

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During those trips, we constantly prayed for the repose of the souls of the departed. We had lists of people who had perished, and we remembered them by name, as well as those whose names we do not know. Naturally, we engaged with delegations from other countries to defend the Ukrainian position, as Russia has traditionally tried to erase both the Ukrainian delegation and the immense losses suffered by Ukrainian intellectuals during the repressions.

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Our aim was to carry out educational and awareness-raising activities. Delegations from Poland, Russia, and Moldova attended these events, and we strived to work collaboratively with all of them.

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What connects the repressions of those times with those currently taking place in the temporarily occupied territories? Both are tied to the same country that carried them out in the past and continues to do so now—Russia. Formerly the Russian Empire and earlier the Tsardom of Moscow, its name has changed, but the country remains the same.

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Russia invests enormous sums in Hollywood films to ensure that "great Russian culture" is always mentioned. Dostoevsky is brought up, regardless of whether the average American woman has read Jack London or not—she must have read Dostoevsky and deliver a five-minute monologue about how profoundly impressed she is by Russian literature.

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This is an effort to portray themselves as humane, civilized, and European.

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Once Peter forced them to shave their beards and wear wigs, but they remained barbarians, essentially unchanged. Even though they now wear ties and talk about some "great culture," they spend enormous sums of money on media in Europe and America, buying their politicians just to present their supposedly European, humane face.

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In reality, their nature remains the same as it was during the times of Ivan the Terrible and Peter the Great, who tortured Ukrainians, crucified them, and floated them down the Dnipro on rafts. In Baturyn, they captured children and impaled them on bayonets.

(The Baturyn Massacre refers to the punitive actions carried out by Moscow's troops, involving the capture and destruction of Hetman Mazepa's capital, Baturyn, and its inhabitants. These events took place on November 2 (November 13), 1708. Moscow’s forces slaughtered and burned all the residents of the city, regardless of age or gender. Estimates suggest that between 11,000 and 15,000 inhabitants of Baturyn were killed. The city was looted, including its Orthodox churches, and subsequently burned to the ground.)

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They are the same now, absolutely unchanged. Only we know this because we have been at war with them for three hundred years. And what happened during the times of the Ukrainian People's Republic? They entered Kyiv for two weeks and executed over three and a half thousand Ukrainians, hauling their bodies away on wagons. (The Assault on Kyiv in January 1918 was a military operation conducted by Russian Bolsheviks to capture the city during the first Soviet-Ukrainian war. It lasted from January 23 (February 5) to January 26 (February 8), 1918, and ended with the capture of Kyiv by the troops of the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR and their puppet regime, the so-called Ukrainian People's Republic of Soviets. The government of the Ukrainian People's Republic (UNR) fled Kyiv. Poisonous gases were used during the assault. Following the orders of their de facto commander Mykhailo Muravyov, Bolshevik troops executed approximately 5,000 civilians in Kyiv.)​

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This is the people and the state repressive machine designed to destroy other nationalities and subjugate them to imperial ambitions. Ukrainians are a particular target for annihilation because Russia once stole the history of Kyivan Rus, which is essentially the history of Ukraine, and claimed it as their own. For them, Kyiv is "the mother of Russian cities," even though it was never their mother, nor their father. Kyiv is not their city. Today, Ukrainians are like a thorn in their side because, as long as Ukrainians live in Kyiv and on this territory, it begs the question: who are they themselves? In that case, they lack an identity.

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Why not acknowledge themselves as the descendants of Genghis Khan, who conquered half the world? This empire, in essence, still exists within the same borders and with the same administrative structure, and the system remains as cruel as it was in those times. Perhaps it is precisely because of this cruelty that they refuse to claim that history as their own. Instead, they chose to appropriate our history—the history of Kyivan Rus, or simply ancient Rus—with its Christianization, its sacred sites, and to draw upon its European heritage and enlightenment for themselves.

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This is the reason for this existential war: we are not supposed to exist because they have called themselves us. But if we exist, then who are they? To claim to be us, they need to destroy us, assimilate us, or do something else to erase us: take our children, re-educate them, and kill those who disagree, as they did during the repressions. This is a continuation of an old policy of repression and destruction.

I traveled a lot in the Sumy region: wherever they entered, the first thing they did was compile lists of those who supported Ukrainian cultural centers, who fought in the ATO—patriots. They were the first to be found and eliminated. These are deliberate repressions, not accidents. This has always been their attitude toward us.

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We, those who were not in occupation, learn about the torture from people who survived it and remained alive, or from their relatives. To show the world the true face of the executioners that Russians are, it is necessary to go directly to the witnesses of these atrocities or their relatives to obtain information from them. Our government does not widely publicize this information—I don't know why. But the whole world must know that Russians are butchers; they are executioners, have always been, and still are. They must not be whitewashed, nor should stories of a so-called great Russian culture be spread. It does not exist.

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Those who went through Donbas, who fought there, all knew there would be a war because Russians had already shown back then that they simply wanted to destroy us as a state, as a nation. Someone reminded me recently that in an interview or a private conversation, I once said there would be a great war and that we needed to prepare for it. Such sentiments were common among the military, among those who fought and were there. And instead of motivating people to defend their land, everything was done the other way around. Just like now.

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All these mobilizations are artificial, and the scare tactics about Territorial Recruitment Centers (TRCs) only add to it... The demotivation of people is in full swing, and many have fallen for it. We don't have independent mass media in Ukraine; there is just one unified TV marathon, feeding people propaganda, and they believe it. We've reached a point where the majority of the population no longer wants to defend their homeland. The burden falls on those who volunteered; everything rests on them—and it's tough.

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Regarding the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, as it calls itself, this is merely a conditional name for the registration of a legal entity. Like any legal entity in Ukraine, they had to register—like a company or any public organization. They registered their religious organization and called it the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC). In reality, all churches and dioceses are directly part of the unified body of the Russian Orthodox Church. If you visit a Russian website, you can see that all the dioceses under the name UOC are listed as part of the Russian Orthodox Church: Kyiv Diocese, Bila Tserkva Diocese, and so on—all of Ukraine is included there. The same applies to the churches.

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Because of this, a significant number of FSB operatives in cassocks were once sent to Ukraine, who then headed regional diocesan administrations and district deaneries. Consequently, there was a consistent directive to work exclusively toward promoting the so-called "unity." The narrative was that we are all Orthodox Christians and, therefore, one "Russian" people. Based on this idea, there was active agitation, including support for Russian politicians who backed the Russian Orthodox Church in Ukraine. Certain influence techniques developed by the Lubyanka (FSB headquarters) and actively used by Russian intelligence services were also implemented in these churches.

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As a result, people are under the influence of these psychological techniques. This makes it very difficult for them to break free from the "bubble" created by the propaganda of the Russian Orthodox Church in Ukraine.

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Well, there is also a strong Russian lobby here, represented by Novinsky, who pays money—600 euros per priest—to prevent them from leaving. For example, the congregation transitions to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU), but the priest does not. He receives money from Novinsky but claims it’s from the "Metropolitanate." He doesn’t serve; he just sits there and portrays himself as "persecuted." Meanwhile, the narrative that Ukraine is repressing the church spreads—that’s one aspect. (Vadym Vladyslavovych Novynskyi (born 1963, Staraya Russa, Novgorod Oblast, RSFSR) is a Russian and Ukrainian businessman of Armenian descent; an oligarch, pro-Russian Ukrainian politician, and founder of the "In Honor of the Protection of the Holy Virgin" charitable foundation. He is also a protodeacon and patron of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate (UOC-MP, also referred to as ROC in Ukraine). Prior to the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, he relocated to Germany.)

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Another issue is that we have many pro-Russian politicians who support the UOC. For years now, there has been talk about renaming the UOC to "ROC in Ukraine." Let them call themselves what they really are. Yet, this matter remains unresolved because pro-Russian politicians and officials continue to protect the Russian church.

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This fifth column will continue to destroy Ukraine as long as each of us fails to embrace the idea of statehood. Until every person in Ukraine becomes a supporter of statehood in their mindset, it will be difficult to change anything. Without a shift in public sentiment, we will not have the quality governance needed to lead Ukraine out of this vicious circle in which we are caught between the West and Russia.

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Currently, I occasionally appear at a church in the center of Kyiv’s historic Podil district, when my current leadership grants me leave for a certain period. The military registration office provided the necessary documentation for the parish. For me, the war has been ongoing for 10 years now. It began with the Maidan and continued in Donbas—in Donetsk and Luhansk regions. All these years, I’ve been rotating with the military. When I went to Donbas, I knew it was a one-way journey...​​​​​​

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