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# Ukrainian Recruitment Officers Mobilize UOC Priest in Chernihiv
- URL: https://uoj.news/news/ukrainian-recruitment-officers-mobilize-uoc-priest-in-chernihiv/
- Published: 2026-10-27T14:18:40.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-27T14:18:40.000Z
- Description: A UOC priest in Chernihiv was mobilized after recruitment officers detained him, despite unsuccessful efforts to secure his release.
- Author: Tobias Straney
- Tags: #Category: News, UOC, Ukraine Schism, War in Ukraine, forced mobilization, UOC Clergy, Territorial Recruitment Center

**CHERNIHIV, UKRAINE —** As reported by [UOJ-Ukraine](https://spzh.eu/ua/news/96694-u-chernihovi-spivrobitniki-ttsk-mobilizuvali-svjashchennika-upts.html), Archpriest Pavlo Tovstogon, a cleric of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC), was mobilized into the Ukrainian military after being detained by officers of a territorial recruitment center in Chernihiv on October 11, 2026.

The priest’s wife, Ksenia Koval, subsequently published a photograph of him wearing military camouflage. “Now I’m a soldier,” she wrote.

According to parishioners of the Church of the Nativity of Christ, where Fr. Pavlo serves, recruitment officers stopped his car at approximately 4 p.m. and took him to the territorial recruitment center. Efforts to secure his release were unsuccessful, and he was ultimately mobilized.

[![](https://uoj.news/content/images/2026/10/photo_2026-10-23_12-43-55.jpg)On this topicOCU Cleric Arrested over Alleged $15,000 Border-Crossing Scheme](https://uoj.news/news/ocu-cleric-arrested-over-alleged-15-000-border-crossing-scheme/)

The case comes amid broader concerns raised by representatives of the UOC over the treatment of the Church and its clergy in Ukraine. In September, a UOC hierarch from Cherkasy addressed the United Nations Human Rights Council, calling for concrete measures to stop alleged violations against the Church. The issue of mobilization has also featured in discussions about the treatment of UOC clergy.

Previously, the [UOJ reported](https://uoj.news/news/recruitment-officers-detain-rector-of-uoc-church-in-kyiv-region/) that recruitment officers detained the rector of a UOC church in the Kyiv region.