Metropolitan Ionafan of the UOC MP, sentenced to 5 years in prison, was handed over to Russia

The vicar of the Tulchyn Diocese in the Vinnytsia region, UOC MP Metropolitan Ionafan, was handed over to Russia — he was released from criminal liability in connection with the "exchange".

Ionafanʼs lawyer Ihor Chudovskyi told Glavkom that serving a sentence for the "heart-sick" metropolitan was tantamount to the death penalty, so his defense did "everything possible to ease the fate of the elderly sick man and the soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine who were in captivity."

Chudovskyi added that Ionafan plans to appeal his verdict in the Supreme Court of Ukraine.

The "Glavkom" publication, citing sources related to the exchange, writes that the metropolitan was exchanged on June 22 at the border with Belarus. For him, the Russian side gave several prisoners of war. It was Russia that initiated the release of Ionafan.

Ionathanʼs transfer was confirmed by the Russian Orthodox Church. On June 22, the website of the Russian Orthodox Church published news that the Metropolitan of the UOC MP met with Patriarch Kyrylo.

• In August 2023, the vicar of the Tulchyn diocese in the Vinnytsia region, Metropolitan Ionafan, was sentenced to 5 years in prison. He publicly justified Russiaʼs armed aggression against Ukraine.