Krasyliv mayor on the "ban" of UOC in the city: We abused our powers

Mayor of Krasyliv Nila Ostrovska with Petro Poroshenko. Photo: Ostrovska’s Facebook

Nila Ostrovska, the mayor of Krasyliv, Khmelnytskyi region, admitted on the Espreso broadcast that the city authorities had exceeded their powers and banned the UOC illegally. Moreover, parishioners of UOC churches do not want to voluntarily transfer to the OCU.

"You should understand that we have exceeded our powers to some extent," said Ostrovska. “This Church (UOC – Ed.) is not prohibited at the state level. We did it under the pressure of the community. 20 deputies out of 26 accepted this decision."

Ostrovska was unable to answer the journalist's question about how to implement this decision.

"Unfortunately, there is no logical conclusion to this decision. This is our position regarding what is happening in the country," the mayor said and added that, in her opinion, the fight against the Church in Krasyliv "must help our heroes."

She stated that back in April, Krasyliv's authorities decided to ban the "Moscow Patriarchate" and terminated the right to use land plots of the UOC. In May, the authorities carried out re-registration.

"But it's already the end of June, and the Ukrainian prayer has not been heard in the churches of the Moscow Patriarchate," Ostrovska complained.

Telling about the defense of their shrine by the parishioners of the Resurrection Church of the UOC, she stated that "unfortunately, we have opposition in our community."

According to her, "those who were friends, acquaintances, and even relatives among the urbanites have now ended up quarrelling over this church topic, which is very, very bad. We need to maintain unity at the front and in the rear, rather than sow such discord over the issue."

At the same time, she owns up to the fact that the religious community is not converting to another faith; hence, it is qualified precisely as a church raid.

"Unfortunately, the abbots and parishioners of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church do not really want to voluntarily transfer to the OCU. Although I met with the priest several times and convinced him and proved with facts that there is a connection with Russia, unfortunately, there is no voluntary transition," said Ostrovska.

Earlier, the UOJ wrote that opponents of the UOC in Krasyliv threatened to "slaughter all Moscow priests".

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