Epifaniy: About 600 parishes of Moscow-aligned church convert to new Ukrainian Orthodox Church
By RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service
Some 600 parishes in Ukraine belonging to the Orthodox church aligned with the Moscow Patriarchate have in one year switched over to the newly formed Orthodox Church of Ukraine, the church's leader says.
The new church's first metropolitan, Epifaniy, told RFE/RL in an interview over the weekend that he foresaw another "wave" in the future of "such massive conversions."
However, "we want them to continue to be peaceful, calm, and voluntary...we do not need confrontation," he said.
The Ukrainian Orthodox Church–Moscow Patriarchate doesn't recognize and opposes the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, which was granted independence in January 2019 by the Patriarchate of Constantinople in Istanbul.
The move ended more than 300 years of control by Moscow.
Epfaniy was installed as the new church's metropolitan on February 3 after an election by high-ranking clergy in Kyiv.
In November, the Patriarchate of Alexandria in Egypt recognized the autocephaly of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine. A month earlier, the leadership of the Church of Greece extended its recognition.
Kyiv says two soldiers killed in Donbas:
By RFE/RL
Ukraine's military has said that two of its soldiers were killed during the previous 24 hours while on a combat mission in the country's eastern Donbas region.
According to a post on Facebook by the Ukrainian Defense Ministry, one of its soldiers was killed as Russia-backed separatists violated a cease-fire deal four times since January 5.
Another soldier was killed inside a military truck that ran over an explosive device near the frontline town of Khutir Vilniy in the eastern Luhansk region.
Another soldier traveling in the vehicle also was seriously wounded, the statement said.
The Ukrainian Defense Ministry said cease-fire violations by separatists also included the firing of 82-millimeter mortar rockets, grenade launchers, heavy machine guns, and different types of firearms at Ukrainian positions in the conflict zone.
Ukrainian forces liberated the town of Khutir Vilniy, also known as Zolote-5, in late September 2018 in the Luhansk region.
Russian-backed forces had often fired on Ukrainian positions from the town, Kyiv had said. It currently has less than 20 civilian residents.
Nearly 14,000 people have been killed in the conflict and 1.5 million more have been displaced.
That concludes our live-blogging of the Ukraine crisis for Sunday, January 5, 2020. Check back here tomorrow for more of our continuing coverage.