Ukraine’s Ambassador to the United States, Olha Stefanishyna, has publicly responded to anti-Ukrainian statements by Congresswoman Anna Paulina Luna, who alleged that Christians are being “persecuted” in Ukraine. Stefanishyna emphasized that these claims do not correspond to reality and are elements of russian propaganda. She also noted that the Embassy of Ukraine in the United States is always ready to provide verified and truthful information.
According to the ambassador, Ukraine has one of the most diverse religious landscapes in the region. More than 30,000 religious organizations are officially registered in Ukraine, many of which would not be able to operate in russia — where religious minorities are systematically persecuted, even when they do not express political views or demonstrate loyalty to the authorities. Stefanishyna stressed that allegations of “persecution” come exclusively from a church institutionally linked to Moscow, making it clear that the current issues surrounding the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate) are geopolitical rather than religious in nature.
The ambassador also recalled that during the period of full-scale war, 1,378 religious communities voluntarily changed their affiliation — that is, parishes of the UOC (Moscow Patriarchate) transferred to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine. She commented on the tensions associated with these transitions: “This is their right. In some communities, internal tensions have arisen, which russian propaganda actively exploits. Ukraine is a democracy, and all such disputes are resolved exclusively through the courts,” she emphasized.
Stefanishyna further underlined that Ukrainian legislation in no way restricts freedom of religion, worship, or religious doctrine. It only prohibits institutional ties with organizations that act in the interests of the aggressor state. The russian Orthodox Church clearly falls into this category; therefore, its canonical link with the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate is precisely the issue.
American Representative Anna Paulina Luna is known for her anti-Ukrainian stance and wide-ranging criticism. However, her statements and posts on X resemble a consistent campaign against Ukraine rather than an ideological defense of the church. She voted against aid packages for Kyiv, initiated a bill calling for U.S. withdrawal from NATO, met with a representative of the russian leadership, Kirill Dmitriev, and recently announced an invitation to deputies of the russian State Duma to Washington to discuss “peace negotiations.” At the same time, she has never visited Ukraine or seen the lives of Ukrainian Orthodox Christians firsthand — further confirming the artificial nature of her claimed “concern for Christians.”
Recently, Luna also became a mouthpiece for Oleksandr Dubinskyi, a Ukrainian MP suspected of high treason, who baselessly accuses Kyiv of persecuting 42,000 political prisoners. The congresswoman even announced her intention to appeal to the U.S. State Department on this issue in order to exert potential pressure on Ukraine.
Olha Stefanishyna responded to this disinformation as well. The ambassador noted that Ukraine’s entire penitentiary system currently holds about 34,600 inmates and that there are no political prisoners in the country: “As a state at war, Ukraine is obliged to counter the activities of individuals acting in the interests of the enemy; however, everyone has a guaranteed right to legal defense in court,” the ambassador wrote.
Claims of “Christian persecution” in Ukraine are a convenient manipulation for russia, aimed at gaining favor with a Western conservative but poorly informed audience. Narratives about allegedly “anti-Christian” processes in Ukraine are presented as simple slogans, without acknowledging Ukraine’s multi-confessional reality or the actual situation of Ukrainian Christians.
It is also important to remember the tradition within russian Orthodoxy of singling out the Ukrainian Orthodox Church as a supposedly “special” church with unique representativeness of Christianity in Ukraine. At the same time, russia itself systematically persecutes religious minorities and has turned the russian Orthodox Church into a fully controlled propaganda instrument — one that, moreover, lacks broad popular support among the population.
Source: Christians for Ukraine
