On 18 January 2026, a meeting of the Secretariat of the Council of Christian Churches of Ukraine was held in Kyiv under the chairmanship of Anatoliy Kozachok, Senior Bishop of the Ukrainian Pentecostal Church. During the meeting, participants reviewed proposals regarding the observance of the National Day of Prayer in Ukraine, considered issues related to Russian propaganda allegations, the state of church–state relations, and preparations for events planned by the Council of Churches for the first half of the current year.

On 24 February 2026, four years will have passed since the beginning of the full-scale military aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine. On 22 October 2025, in accordance with the Resolution of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine “On the Establishment of the National Day of Prayer,” the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine adopted Order No. 1157-r “On Approval of the Action Plan for Commemorating the National Day of Prayer.” In the context of this government order, and taking into account last year’s experience of holding the National Day of Prayer at the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, church representatives agreed on relevant proposals, which will be sent in the form of recommendations to religious organizations at the regional level.

The Secretariat of the Council of Churches discussed a propaganda statement issued on 15 January this year by representatives of Russian churches participating in the “Christian Interconfessional Consultative Committee,” in which Russian religious figures claimed to be “concerned about the oppression and violation of the rights of Christians in a number of countries,” namely in “Ukraine, Moldova, Estonia, and other states.” Ukrainian religious leaders noted that this statement was made in unison with a propaganda publication by the press bureau of the Foreign Intelligence Service of the Russian Federation dated 12 January this year, which labeled Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew as an “antichrist in a cassock.” These publications once again demonstrate that Russian religious figures, with few exceptions, are an integral part of the Russian political regime and are among those responsible for inciting religious hatred, supporting the Russian Federation’s aggressive war against Ukraine, the killing of tens of thousands of Ukrainians, the abduction of Ukrainian children, and other crimes. As a result of the discussion, the Secretariat of the Council of Churches decided to take appropriate response measures.

Ukrainian religious leaders also exchanged views on a number of issues concerning church–state relations in Ukraine and planned further steps aimed at developing partnership relations between government authorities and religious denominations.

The Secretariat of the Council of Churches discussed organizational aspects of preparations for the Forum of the Ukrainian Christian Movement (UCM) and events marking the anniversary of the publication of the Ostroh Bible—the first complete printed edition of the Bible in Ukraine and Eastern Europe—and submitted relevant proposals to the Coordination Council of the UCM.

Representatives of the Ukrainian Pentecostal Church, the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, the Roman Catholic Church in Ukraine, the All-Ukrainian Union of Churches of Evangelical Christians-Baptists, the Ukrainian Union Conference of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, the Ukrainian Evangelical Church, the Ukrainian Christian Evangelical Church, the Ukrainian Lutheran Church, and the Institute for Religious Freedom took part in the meeting of the Secretariat of the Council of Christian Churches of Ukraine.