A UOC priest was held for more than 72 hours, taken to a military unit, and had his contact with his family cut off.

A priest of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church was detained and forcibly sent to a military unit in the Kharkiv region. Priest Vyacheslav Kalinichenko, 54, the rector of St. Michael's Church in the village of Petrovka, was detained on January 8, 2026, by officers of the Territorial Recruiting Center at a checkpoint in Chuguev.

According to the priest's wife, he was held in the TRC building for over 72 hours, until January 13. During this period, he was pressured, threatened with criminal prosecution under Article 153 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, which his relatives consider blackmail. On January 13, without being given the opportunity to say goodbye to his wife, the priest was taken to Kharkiv, and then, on the night of January 14, to a training unit in Dnipro.

The systematic violation of procedural rights is extremely alarming: Father Vyacheslav's communication was restricted, TCC staff attempted to access his smartphone to install the "Oberig" app, and the police, despite numerous calls, took no effective action. The family's attempts to obtain a response through official channels—contacts to the military and regional prosecutor's offices, and the Ministry of Defense hotline—remain unsuccessful.

This case is yet another egregious example of the forced mobilization of UOC clergy with gross violations of human rights and procedural norms. Human rights organizations have documented a growing trend of extrajudicial pressure and the actual abduction of clergy under the pretext of mobilization, which creates a climate of impunity and threatens religious freedom in the country. The parish is left without a pastor, and the family without a breadwinner, while the authorities ignore legitimate appeals for assistance.