Solomiia Bobrovska

Solomiia Bobrovska

Member of the Rivne City Council of the 6th convocation from the All-Ukrainian Union “Svoboda” faction (2015).Acting Head of the Odesa Regional State Administration (2016–2017).Member of Parliament of the Verkhovna Rada from the Holos party.

Awards:

• Medal “For Sacrifice and Love for Ukraine” (UOC–KP), 2015
• Commemorative Medal of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine “Defender of the Homeland,” 2016
• Honorary Award “Cross of Saint Nicholas,” 2017 (an award of the Mykolaiv Regional Council for law enforcement officers and others)
• Medal for Civilians “For Merit” from the Ministry of National Defence of Lithuania (2022 and 2025)

🔴 Solomiia Bobrovska, together with Mykyta Poturaiev, became an initiator of the inter-factional parliamentary association “For a Unified Local Ukrainian Orthodox Church.” She explained this initiative by the need, during wartime, to prioritize state security, while referring to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) as “Russian” and allegedly spreading disinformation.

At the same time, she described the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU) as “a cornerstone of our statehood”:

“At a time when the Russian church has become more active (this is not about faith now) and spreads fakes about coronavirus and the Russian–Ukrainian war, it is more important than ever to support those who do not close their doors to people searching either for themselves or for God. And this is also about state security.”

🔴 In 2021, the MP stated on her Facebook page that the UOC must vacate the Chapel of the Martyr John the Warrior, located on the grounds of a war veterans’ hospital in Pushcha-Vodytsia.

“Moscow Patriarchate — pack up and get out. If by September the ROC does not vacate the hospital territory, I will file an appeal with the prosecutor’s office and demand that criminal proceedings be opened for the unlawful seizure of land. We keep chipping away at this rock. Calmly, methodically, by legal means.”

After public attention was drawn to the chapel—established at the hospital by Afghan war veterans, according to its rector—OCU chaplains were sent to the hospital, and parishioners of the chapel began to be harassed on the street by ATO participants. The situation was also “taken under control” by the Right Sector.

🔴 On 22 June 2021, a representative of the First Assault Company of the Right Sector Volunteer Corps, Dmytro Savchenko, called on comrades:

“Stay alert; it may be necessary to mobilize at a call and push the ‘Muscovite scum’ out of the Rehabilitation monastery. Together we will defeat the pig-faced kokoshniks!”
The director of the “Lisova Polyana” Veterans’ Hospital informed the rector, Archpriest Andrii Antoshchuk, of the termination of worship services.

🔴 In November 2022, MP Bobrovska disseminated defamatory statements on her personal Facebook page against Bishop Pimen and the diocesan secretary, Archpriest Viktor Zemlianyi.

“Today the morning was not very kind to the church of FSB witnesses. But not everyone had to drink from this cup. For example, the SBU did not come to visit Viktor Oleksiiovych Zemlianyi… This, if you permit me, ‘father’ cooperates with Russian journalists and films reports with them, even entire films! With the eloquent title ‘Persecution,’ in which he discredits Ukraine…
Dear Security Service of Ukraine, perhaps you should pay this gentleman a visit and revive the investigations into him?”
She alleged that Father Viktor cooperated with Russian journalists, attaching a screenshot of a seven-year-old video.

“By giving interviews in 2015–2017 to various journalists, I defended the constitutional rights of Ukrainian citizens who are believers of the UOC. And, in my opinion, Ukraine’s authority is undermined precisely by those who violate these rights and discredit and humiliate the honor and dignity of Ukrainian believers,” Father Viktor noted.
(Source: Fraza.ua)

The Rivne Diocese announced its intention to go to court to prove its loyalty to the country and the Church and to expose the falsehoods of local officials:

“One must answer for everything before God and before people,” Father Viktor said, adding: “We are citizens of Ukraine! The UOC is the Church of the Ukrainian people. Do not turn a segment of Ukrainian citizens into enemies merely because of their confessional affiliation. We demand that this lawlessness stop; we will appeal to the President.”

Bobrovska submitted parliamentary inquiries to the Security Service of Ukraine seeking the closure of the Korets Monastery. Her statements were widely circulated by the media, including headlines such as “How to Take the Korets Monastery Away from the Moscow Church.”

🔴 27 January 2023 — Bobrovska called for disregarding legality in the process of banning the UOC.

In a comment to zahid.espreso.tv, she acknowledged that the adoption of a law banning the UOC causes conflicts, but stated that this should be ignored.

On the website of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, its Legal Department warned that draft law No. 8371 contradicts the Constitution, legislative drafting rules, national legislation, and international law, recommending its removal from the agenda and not putting it to a vote.

The UOC submitted an appeal to the United Nations regarding discrimination against the religious rights of Ukrainian citizens.

🔴 24 July 2024 — On state television, the MP consistently promoted the idea of banning the Church, asserting that this was not a ban on faith, but only on a “hostile religious organization.” Parliamentary proceedings were even blocked with demands to place the bill on the agenda.

Speaking on Suspilne. Studio, Bobrovska commented on the draft law banning the UOC-MP.
On 23 July, a group of MPs blocked the Verkhovna Rada rostrum, demanding inclusion of draft law No. 8371, which concerns the prohibition of religious organizations linked to Russia.

“Those in parliament who delay this bill look as if they are waiting for the ‘Russian world.’ The adoption of this bill could be historic and will launch the process of identifying ties with the Russian Federation. The bill will affect all religious organizations in which any links with the aggressor are found. This law in no way concerns faith. It concerns religious organizations operating in Ukraine, just like any other business.”

🔴 19 August 2024  Bobrovska published a blog on the Ukrainska Pravda website, asserting that the UOC is a church that kills Ukrainians, an “agent network,” a “many-headed monster (a continuation of the Moscow eagle) that systematically kills Ukrainians,” etc.:

“The Moscow Church That Kills: Why We Need a Law Banning the ROC.”

🔴 19 October 2023 — Bobrovska exerted pressure on parliamentarians ahead of the vote on banning the UOC. From the Rada rostrum, she urged MPs to vote for draft law No. 8371, citing accusations such as

“attempted violent overthrow of state power, encroachment on Ukraine’s territorial integrity, high treason, attempts on the life of a state official, corruption of minors, and a key role in the deportation of Ukrainians—children and adults.” She claimed that court verdicts existed against leaders and subordinates connected to or governing dioceses of the Russian Orthodox Church.

She stated that this prompted President Zelenskyy and the National Security and Defense Council to instruct the government and Prime Minister Shmyhal to submit draft law No. 3871, aimed not at banning faith but religious organizations whose centers are located in the aggressor state—the Russian Federation.

She also reiterated from the rostrum the claim that UOC clergy refuse to conduct funeral rites for fallen soldiers.

(Video published by the Rada parliamentary TV channel, timestamp 2:21:20.)

In June 2024, on state television, she asserted that the bill banning the UOC is not about banning faith, but about “the FSB in cassocks” and “ties with the aggressor state.”

In April 2025, speaking on Suspilne, she stated that the “Russian church” still holds strong positions in Rivne Oblast:

“A vivid demonstration of the Moscow Patriarchate is the situation in Rivne Oblast. I do not see strong transitions here… We have the Korets Monastery, which is subordinate to Russia. On the territory of the Ostroh Local History Museum stands, as a mockery, a church of the Moscow Patriarchate.”

🔴 28 August 2025 — She stated that the State Service of Ukraine for Ethnopolitics and Freedom of Conscience had proven that under a “Ukrainian signboard,” the UOC concealed the FSB:

“This has long been overdue, but it is nevertheless historic for us: the State Service for Ethnopolitics and Freedom of Conscience recognized the so-called ‘Kyiv Metropolis of the UOC’ as affiliated with a foreign religious organization whose activities are banned in Ukraine.
Finally, it has been legally established that the Moscow Patriarchate is the Moscow Patriarchate of the ROC/FSB, even if it is hidden behind a Ukrainian façade.
Next, procedurally, comes the termination of property use agreements and court appeals to revoke registration.”

🔴 24 October 2025  Bobrovska acknowledged that she is fighting the Orthodox Church, while manipulating the concepts “UOC – ROC – FSB” to incite hostility during wartime.

She cited an order of the State Service for Ethnopolitics identifying signs of affiliation between the Korets Holy Trinity Women’s Stauropegial Monastery of the Moscow Patriarchate and the ROC.

As of early October 2025, she stated, Rivne Oblast had 628 UOC–ROC communities (compared to 413 OCU communities). The UOC–ROC owned 158 buildings and used another 177 properties, totaling 335.

“Looking at these figures, I personally get the persistent impression that the Russian church in Rivne Oblast still feels more than comfortable…
Since all the necessary instruments now exist for a real ban on the Russian church in Ukraine, including the political will of the country’s leadership, one would hope that in the near future state and law enforcement bodies will bring this process to its logical conclusion…
And now we await the eviction of nuns with FSB shoulder boards from the premises of the Korets Monastery.”

🔴 22 October 2025  Using congratulations to the new Minister of Culture, she called from the parliamentary rostrum for action against the UOC, publicly calling for measures against the Holy Trinity Korets Monastery.

She told lawmakers that “in the so-called monastery the nuns definitely have shoulder boards” of foreign intelligence services, demanded to “return the church to Ukraine,” and proposed using “Moscow additions and superstructures” on historical religious buildings as grounds for terminating lease agreements.

“These issues directly concern national security, especially when it comes to decolonization and the occupation of nationally significant monuments by the Russian church.
Moscow additions and superstructures on historical religious sites are not cultural heritage; they are literally the occupation of these places by the FSB/ROC, which must be defeated once and for all.”
(Video published on the MP’s page.)