Zelensky Rejects Charges of Christian Persecution
He hails a multi‑faith council at his office and invites critics to see war damage, even as Kyiv’s ban on Moscow‑tied churches draws scrutiny.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Saturday rejected accusations that his country persecutes Christians, telling radio host Tony Perkins in an interview, “We are very free.”
Zelensky said Ukraine hosts the largest council of religious institutions in Europe. Its members, he said, meet every month at the presidential office to address problems, humanitarian aid, destroyed buildings, and church leaders tortured or jailed by Russia. Christians, Jews, Catholics, and Muslims “all sit in the same room,” he added.
Council, Prayer, and an Invitation to Critics
Perkins said he had met the council and Zelensky during an August visit and had prayed for the president on Independence Day. Zelensky replied that thousands of people take part in this work and respect one another.
The president singled out American commentator Tucker Carlson, a former Fox News host, saying Carlson “doesn’t know what’s going on in Ukraine” and has probably never been to the country. Zelensky invited him to see what Russia had destroyed and how Ukrainians treat different faiths.
Zelensky said Russians had killed about 120 representatives of religious institutions and described the killings as deliberate attacks on people and churches. He also thanked first lady Melania Trump for helping arrange a local ceasefire in the Russian‑occupied town of Oleshky, where aid began arriving and civilians began leaving on Friday.
Legal Pressure on Moscow-Linked Bodies
The exchange comes against a contested legal backdrop. In 2024 Ukraine’s parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, approved a law banning religious bodies tied to Moscow, including the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) and the Russian Orthodox Church. The ban did not cover the Orthodox Church of Ukraine.
By January 2024 authorities had arrested 68 priests and Metropolitan Pavel, a UOC leader, and had placed Patriarch Kirill on a wanted list. UOC lawyer Bob Amsterdam said the government was targeting the church for political reasons.
In 2023 the Orthodox Public Affairs Committee condemned Carlson’s remarks at the Family Leadership Summit in Des Moines, Iowa, calling his claims that Ukraine persecutes Christians “Russian propaganda.”
For Catholics who follow the fate of Eastern Churches and the defense of religious liberty, the dispute turns on two simultaneous claims: wartime solidarity among confessions inside free Ukraine, and the state’s power to cut canonical ties with Moscow. Zelensky presents the multi‑faith council as proof of freedom; critics of the 2024 law see a political weapon aimed at one Orthodox jurisdiction. The facts on the ground—arrests, bans, destroyed churches, and clergy killed—remain the measure against which both claims must be weighed.