The new Ukrainian law, which passed the country’s Parliament on Aug. 20, bans the Russian Orthodox Church in Ukrainian territory.

Updated at 2:00 p.m. ET on May 9, 2024 In late August of 2018, Patriarch Kirill, the leader of the Russian Orthodox Church, flew from Moscow to Istanbul on an urgent mission.

Ukrainian lawmakers on August 20 approved a bill banning religious organizations linked to the Russian Orthodox Church, which Kyiv has criticized for being supportive of Moscow's full-scale invasion.

In a Feb. 29 interview posted on the Russian Orthodox Church’s website, the Orthodox prelate said the document “elicited an unequivocally very negative reaction” from the commission.

In 2019, Ukraine's Orthodox Church was granted independence from the Russian Orthodox Church by the ecumenical patriarch in Constantinople (now Istanbul, Turkey). It caused an uproar in Moscow.

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The leader of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill, has garnered criticism and even international sanctions for his support of Putin’s invasion, which began on Feb. 24, 2022.

The calendar shift means millions of Ukrainians will celebrate Christmas on Dec. 25 this year instead of Jan. 7, when Russian and some other Orthodox churches celebrate.