UOC Hieromonk Says He Was Taken From Bus and Mobilized

KHMELNYTSKYI, UKRAINE — Hieromonk Viktor (Vladislav Denisov) of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) said he was detained by employees of the Khmelnytskyi Territorial Recruitment and Social Support Center on September 28 while traveling to attend classes at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. He said he was 24 and had the necessary documents with him, but was removed from the bus along with a delegation that included clergy studying at Greek universities.

Denisov said TCC employees told him he was being detained for a military medical examination because the existing decision in the “Reserve+” database did not meet certain standards. He said he was forcibly taken to the TRC, where he was declared fit within 10 minutes. He described the doctors as “extremely incompetent” and said they appeared interested in mobilizing him. According to Denisov, one doctor told him, “Then we won’t check your eyesight or sanity—we’ll save time!”

The hieromonk said he was subsequently held for almost a day, shouted at, and threatened by TRC employees. He said his phone was confiscated and that he was transported to an unknown location before being returned. Describing the experience, he wrote that there were servicemen inside the system who helped him contact police, but called the facility “this ‘zoo’—this hunt for people.” He added that “the police did not act in a way that protected my rights.”

Denisov said his belongings were left at the TRC and that he was eventually helped by a recruiter to obtain a place in the 8th Special Operations Forces Regiment. “That is how, in the course of just a few days, my life completely changed,” he wrote. “I was going to Greece to receive an education. Instead, I ended up in the Ukrainian army.”

He said he would not take up weapons because Church canons forbid him from doing so, but intends to assist the Ukrainian military in other ways. “I do not know why the Lord is leading me along precisely this path,” he wrote, adding that he asks for the “holy prayers” of others.

Previously, the UOJ reported that a UOC protodeacon was pepper-sprayed and injured in the ribs during mobilization.