Ukrainian Colonel Targeting UOC Clergy for Draft
Dumenko and Polianska. Photo: OCU Press Service
KYIV — Colonel Larysa Polianska, head of the chaplain service of the Ukrainian Ground Forces (and a member of the OCU), is reportedly overseeing the large-scale distribution of draft notices to clergy of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, according to UOJ sources.
Polianska's department has been given a database containing addresses and personal details of UOC clergy across Ukraine. As a result, draft notices are being sent directly from Kyiv to the regions, bypassing local military enlistment offices.
According to clergy, local recruitment officials are unaware of this centralized distribution.
If priests are not found at their registered addresses, they are immediately declared wanted.
Sources also report that Polianska has a friendly relationship with Epiphanius (Dumenko), leader of the schismatic Orthodox Church of Ukraine. Dumenko allegedly uses the threat of draft notices against disobedient clergy.
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