Dubivtsi. Militants in balaclavas seized a UOC church.

Dormition of the Blessed Virgin Mary Church of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church

Address: Chernivtsi Oblast, Dubivtsi village, Bukovynska Street.

The Dormition Church of the UOC in the village of Dubivtsi was seized with the help of militants from the extremist organization "Trident of S. Bandera."

OCU raiders brought a criminal group to the church, who broke the locks and blocked the premises.

In January 2025, in Dubivtsi, Bukovyna, representatives of the OCU held a meeting of the local community at the village club regarding the "transfer" of the Dormition Church of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church to their structure.

The event's organizers, including the controversial OCU cleric Grishchuk, failed to prevent the faithful from attending the meeting.

As a result, out of 115 registered persons, 70 voted against the transition to the OCU and in favor of remaining within the bosom of the UOC.

According to testimony from the scene, OCU activists simply fled, stealing the lists of registered members. They are now passing these lists off as a unanimous vote to join the OCU.

However, the church parishioners retained the minutes of the meeting, which clearly show the true outcome.

(Source: UOJ)

On February 4, 2025, the Dormition Community of the village of Dubovtsi in Bukovyna appealed to the US government, Vice President J.D. Vance personally, the UN Human Rights Monitoring Group, and the OSCE regarding the threat of seizure of their church by the OCU.

Believers reported that on January 26, 2025, several OCU activists organized a meeting in the village regarding the transition. When parishioners signed up only as participants in the meeting, the organizers collected the documents and disappeared without holding any vote.

Believers fear that their signatures will be interpreted as an expression of their will in favor of switching to the OCU.

The forms contained a column for and against switching from the UOC to the OCU. People signed, but the columns remained blank. When the parishioners realized they had been deceived, they demanded the right to sign their "for" or "against" votes. But the OCU supporters hid the lists and fled the club.

Believers of the UOC appealed to law enforcement agencies to return the lists, but no one responded to their requests and demands.

"It is known that false documents are being prepared for our church. A violent seizure of the church is possible, which could result in harm to our believers. We are Ukrainians, and we are against the religious discord incited by OCU supporters." "We love God, our Church, our native Ukraine, our people, our land," the Dormition Community concluded.

On April 1, 2025, in the village of Dubivtsi in the Chernivtsi region, clergy and representatives of the OCU, along with militants in balaclavas, seized the UOC Dormition Church.

Around 5:00 PM, raiders from the OCU, accompanied by underage militants from "Trident of S. Bandera", stormed the church grounds. Believers testified that the young men were brought from the Ivano-Frankivsk region.

Militants cordoned off and blocked the church. Orthodox Christians and clergy gathered near the fence.

The parish rector, Archpriest Petro Zelenyuk, serves in the parish with his son, Archpriest John. Father John was a cleric at the Ivano-Frankivsk UOC Cathedral. After the brutal seizure of the main church of the Ivano-Frankivsk Diocese, he moved to the village to assist his father, the priest.

Police were present at the crime scene but did not intervene.