Persecutions and Threats by SBU against the priest and parishioners of the Great Martyr Demetrius of Thessaloniki Temple of the UOC
Church Address: Kyiv region, Brovary, 35 Serhiy Moskalenko Street.
In April 2024, a group of OCU raiders targeted the St. Demetrius Church of the UOC in Brovary. A criminal group, led by a Brovary City Council deputy, initiated an illegal meeting of the local community, at which they decided to "transfer" a UOC religious community to the OCU.
The real community and clergy of the church, knowing that illegal collections are simply impossible to challenge in Ukraine, decided to create a foundation and transfer the church premises to its ownership.
Using this way, believers managed to protect their church.
The criminal group began actively facilitating the activities of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU). Law enforcement officials began intimidating parishioners who voted to transfer the church to the foundation's ownership with criminal charges.
As a result, the SBU and the National Police opened a criminal case against the rector to challenge the decision to transfer the church's ownership.
🛑On April 13, 2024, a group of so-called OCU activists and local government representatives organized a meeting in Brovary, Kyiv Region, with the goal of "transferring" the UOC parish in honor of the Great Martyr Demetrius of Thessaloniki to their structure.
This process was led by Bohdana Drach, a notorious MP from the "European Solidarity" party, a member of the Brovary City Council.
The raiders followed a classic scheme: They organized a meeting of the local community, where people, who have no relation to the church parish would vote for a "transition to the OCU." Bohdana Drach, who led this action near the local market, is known for having actively participated in the brutal seizure of the UOC Church of the Intercession in Trebukhov village, Kyiv region, a year before these events. She and her accomplices then threw the Bible out of the church, calling it as "garbage."
Local residents testify that the deputy herself is a Greek Catholic. The video shows Drach and her other accomplices did not even recognize the actual parishioners who came to document the crime.
(Source: UOJ)
🔴On April 13, 2024, parishioners of the Church of the Great Martyr Demetrius of Thessaloniki in Brovary gathered for a religious community meeting and unanimously voted to remain within the UOC.
🔴On June 27, 2024, there was inflornation about threats by law enforcement officials against parishioners of the church.
SBU officers summoned members of the religious community for a "conversation" and threatened to falsify criminal cases if they did not recant their votes.
(Source: Project "DOZOR on Pershiy Kozatskyi")
🔴On January 28, 2026, police, together with the SBU, reported the alleged illegal alienation of a church complex belonging to the UOC religious community.
According to investigators, Archpriest Alexander Stepanyuk, rector of St. Demetrius Parish, "abused his official position" by allegedly altering documents and transferring church property to a charitable foundation.
Police claim that the property in question is worth approximately 6 million hryvnias, and the cleric's actions are classified under Part 5 of Article Article 191 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. Law enforcement officialsm claim he faces up to 12 years in prison with confiscation of property.
According to police and the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), the charitable organization was created several months before the April 2024 meeting at which the religious community's "transition" to the OCU was announced. Investigators claim that the documents allegedly contained false information regarding parishioners' consent to donate church premises to the foundation.
These accusations were made against the backdrop of events that took place in Brovary in the spring of 2024. At that time, a group of OCU activists, with the support of local authorities, organized a meeting of the local community with the goal of "transferring" the parish of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in honor of the Great Martyr Demetrius of Thessaloniki to the OCU.
Furthermore, according to sources of the project "DOZOR on Peshiy Kozatskiy" , SBU officers visited the cleric a week before the notice of suspicion was announced.
The liquidation of the foundation would allow raiders from the OCU to seize the church premises.
The SBU released a TikTok video threatening those who celebrate Christmas on January 7.
In the United States, a large-scale video investigation has been released into alleged crimes committed by the OCU and state authorities against the UOC.
