Defenders of Faith Ukraine

These materials are distributed by DCI Group AZ, LLC on behalf of Kyiv Global Outreach. Information is on file with the Department of Justice, Washington, DC.

[Defenders of Faith Ukraine @DefendFaithUA]

Catch the insightful @CBNNews interview between @JohnJessupCBN & President @ZelenskyyUa. They discuss the heart-wrenching issue of 20,000 stolen Ukrainian children, the critical role of religious freedom, and how Evangelicals are supporting Ukraine in these challenging times.

[JP Lindsley | Journalist @JPLindsley]

Ukrainians keep Christmas well.

Russians celebrate New Years instead. Moscow has been trying to kill Christmas for a century.

Christmas reveals how Ukraine and Russia are the two polar opposite ways to live on Earth.

[Defense of Ukraine @DefenceU]

Christmas carols echo beneath St. Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv. A reminder that even in wartime, faith, culture, and hope endure.
#StandWithUkraine

📹: @U24_gov_ua

[Anton Gerashchenko @Gerashchenko_en]

Carol of the Bells in Kyiv subway.

Voices of the Embassies of Germany, France, and the United Kingdom came together to perform Shchedryk in the Kyiv metro as a sign of solidarity with Ukraine.

Thankful to everyone who stands with us!

[George Barros @georgewbarros]

The Russian Orthodox Church Moscow Patriarchate has a long history of effectively being a tool of the Russian state.

1686: Moscow (illegally) annexed the Kyiv Metropolitan as part of its consolidation of imperial power. The canonical legitimacy of this absorption is still hotly debated to this day.

1721: Peter the Great effectively subjugated the ROC to the tsarist state through the creation of the Holy Synod - a new government institution designed to oversee church activities.

1943: Stalin’s rehabilitated the ROC in wartime and transformed it into a front for the NKVD and eventually the KGB.

Some scholars, citing declassified NKVD files and the Mitrokhin Archive, argue that the Moscow Patriarchate can only truly trace its history back to 1943, when Stalin granted the ROC amnesty and allowed church institutions to exist in the USSR.

The Russian Orthodox Church / its branch in Ukraine is not an independent religious organization. It's an extension of the Russian state. That's been the de facto role of the church since at least the 18th century, and became even worse following Stalin's rehabilitation.

[JP Lindsley | Journalist @JPLindsley]

Hardly anyone goes to church in Russia. Raw church attendance numbers are higher in smaller Ukraine!

We can say this clearly: Russia is seeking to destroy Europe's biggest Christian nation.

Here in Ukraine I see Christian vibrance & abundance: Catholic, Orthodox, Evangelical

[Steven Moore @MooreUSA]

Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill declared a Holy War on Ukraine and the west, leading to the murder of 80 pastors and priests by his followers in the Russian armed forces. @TracySabolDC and I talked about this on @NEWSMAX yesterday. Check it out.

https://t.co/HhEHGRxh9w

[George Barros @georgewbarros]

There's a tremendous amount of disinformation about religious liberty in Ukraine. One of the key false axioms is that the the Ukrainian Orthodox Church Moscow Patriarchate (UOC) is an independent religious organization that is being repressed by the Ukrainian government. The assertion that the UOC is an independent religious organization is false. It is an extension of the Russian state and an instrument of Russian hybrid warfare.

[Mike Pompeo @mikepompeo]

100%. Putin is one of the world's foremost persecutors of Christians.

[Steven Moore @MooreUSA]

Torture and imprisonment await Protestants and Catholics practicing their faith in Russian-occupied Ukraine. Why? Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill declared a Holy War on Ukraine and the west. The @societyofstjohn, followers of Kirill, are on Capitol Hill today. Ask them about it.

[Rebeccah Heinrichs @RLHeinrichs]

Ukraine has been called the Bible Belt of Europe because of the high numbers of evangelical Christians. The worst place to be a prot Christian in Ukraine is Russian occupied territory. And Russia has persecuted evangelicals for being “tools of the West.” Don’t be fooled by pro Putin lobbies in robes.

[Razom for Ukraine 🇺🇸🤝🇺🇦 @razomforukraine]

📣 Join us tonight at 9 PM ET for a conversation with Razom’s Julian Hayda, where we will expose recent activity by the Russian Orthodox Church in D.C. and discuss how Ukrainian advocates can push back against Kremlin-linked propaganda.

Register here 👉 https://t.co/1S80435xYk

[Razom for Ukraine 🇺🇸🤝🇺🇦 @razomforukraine]

‼️Today, representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church are back on Capitol Hill. Claiming to speak for a diverse faith coalition, they push false allegations of religious persecution in Ukraine — echoing Kremlin narratives used to justify Russia’s war.

They won’t mention that Russia has destroyed or damaged over 600 religious sites in Ukraine. Or that Russian authorities routinely persecute Christians in occupied territories who refuse to cooperate with the regime — including Protestants, Catholics, and Orthodox Ukrainians. This includes illegal detention, torture, seizure of churches from local parishes, and more.

Revived under Joseph Stalin, the Russian Orthodox Church has long functioned in close alignment with Russia’s security services. During the Cold War, the KGB used a senior Russian Orthodox archbishop to recruit and handle U.S. Air Force Colonel George Trofimoff, later convicted of espionage. As recently as this year, U.S. authorities have again investigated a Russian Orthodox priest for allegedly trying to recruit spies inside the U.S.

This has been part of the Russian playbook for decades. Unfortunately, modern Russian Orthodox Church has little to do with Orthodox faith, and members of Congress and the American public should be clear-eyed about that.

📷 Mother of God Joy of All Who Sorrow Orthodox Church in the village Bohorodychne, Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine. The village came under attack by Russian forces in June 2022. Photo: Volodymyr Kutsenko

[Ostap Yarysh @OstapYarysh]

@RepLuna The only systematic persecution of Christians in Ukraine is being carried out by Russia. As of April 2025, Russia has destroyed or damaged over 600 religious sites in Ukraine - will you condemn this as well?

[Bring Kids Back UA @BringKidsBackUA]

‼️ U.N. General Assembly Resolution "Return of Ukranian Children" is adopted.
We are grateful for such a huge support today 🙌🏼

#BringKidsBack

[Bring Kids Back UA @BringKidsBackUA]

UPD: Tomorrow, on Dec 3rd at 2 pm, the U.S. Senate will hold a dedicated hearing on the abduction of Ukrainian children by Russia.

Panel I:
🔸@SenBlumenthal
🔸@SenAmyKlobuchar
🔸@RepBrianFitz

Panel II
🔸@StefanishynaO, Ambassador of Ukraine to the United States
🔸@MykolaKuleba, @SaveukraineUs
🔸Maksym Maksymov, @BringKidsBackUA
🔸Kateryna Rashevska, @RchrSev (Regional Center for Human Rights)
🔸Nathaniel Raymond @nattyray11, Humanitarian Research Lab, @YaleSPH

[JP Lindsley | Journalist @JPLindsley]

Russia is bombing Europe's biggest Christian nation.

The BBC won't tell you this: Ukraine's religious scene is not what you think!

@JDVance did you know?

[Steven Moore @MooreUSA]

Great to be on with Gary!

[JP Lindsley | Journalist @JPLindsley]

The tragedy: Ukraine is one of Europe's most religious countries. People go to church. People greet each other by saying, "Glory to Jesus Christ" instead of "good morning."

In Russia, churches are empty. But its billion-dollar propaganda machine conveys the opposite to Americans.

[JP Lindsley | Journalist @JPLindsley]

Congressman Wilson gets this right: The Russian Orc-odox Church hasn't existed since the heinous 1917 Communist Bolshevik Revolution.

Every since then the "church" has been an arm of the Kremlin:

[Rep. Don Bacon 🇺🇸✈️🏍️⭐️🎖️ @RepDonBacon]

The Russian Orthodox Church should forcefully condemn Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, the bombing of innocent citizens, the murdering of Ukrainian POWs and the kidnapping of 20,000 Ukrainian children. The Church should be the spiritual conscience in Russia not a facilitator.