Military recruiters detain UOC bishop, seize his passport

Kiev, August 17, 2026

Met. Sergei of Tulchin. Photo: pravlife.info Met. Sergei of Tulchin. Photo: pravlife.info     

Military recruitment officers detained a Ukrainian Orthodox Church Metropolitan for hours and seized his passport, according to posts from one of the UOC’s lawyer, Archpriest Nikita Chekman.

His Eminence Metropolitan Sergei of Tulchin and Bratslav and Archpriest Anatoly Vishnevy, a cleric of the Tulchin Diocese, were detained by territorial recruitment center officials, Fr. Nikita reported yesterday. The two clergymen were being held at the Darnitsky District Territorial Recruitment Center and Social Support Office in Kiev, where they were undergoing a military medical commission.

Met. Sergei previously served as vicar of the Tulchin Diocese under His Eminence Metropolitan Jonathan of Tulchin, who was the first UOC bishop convicted on fabricated charges of supporting the war and inciting religious enmity.

Fr. Nikita later reported that Metropolitan Sergei had been released from the recruitment center. He’d been held there since eight in the morning, though no protocol or other document was drawn up to confirm or justify his detention. Despite releasing him, officers confiscated his Ukrainian passport. No protocol, act, receipt, or any other document was created regarding the passport’s confiscation, and the Metropolitan wasn’t given any document confirming the fact, legal basis, or circumstances of its seizure.

Fr. Nikita called the recruitment center representatives’ actions unlawful and noted that the UOC is preparing formal complaints.

Meanwhile, recruitment officials are trying to mobilize Fr. Anatoly. According to available information, he wasn’t wanted by authorities, hadn’t violated military registration rules, and there were no grounds under current law for his detention.

Fr. Nikita said his team will pursue all legal measures to challenge the unlawful detention, the passport confiscation, and what he called the illegal mobilization attempt against the priest.

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8/17/2026

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