On 3 June 2025, representatives of Ukrainian churches met with Bob McEwen, Director of the Council for National Policy (CNP) and former long-time U.S. Congressman, together with his wife Elizabeth. The meeting took place at the headquarters of the All-Ukrainian Union of Churches of Evangelical Christians-Baptists in Irpin, Kyiv region.

The Ukrainian side briefed the American guests on the current religious landscape in Ukraine and on the domestic and international work of the Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organizations (UCCRO). They described: churches and church buildings destroyed by Russian forces; systematic religious persecution in the territories temporarily occupied by Russia, including the seizure of houses of worship for military or administrative use, closure of churches and prayer houses, and the killing, unlawful arrest, and imprisonment of clergy of various denominations; the support given by the Russian Orthodox Church to Russia’s military aggression and Moscow’s use of religion as a tool to advance its neo-imperial goals.

Mr McEwen outlined the mission of the CNP and the three core freedoms that guide the work of the Council and many U.S. conservative organizations: economic freedom, political freedom, and freedom of religion. He reaffirmed strong support for Ukraine within American society and the U.S. political establishment, while noting the internal and external challenges currently being addressed by the U.S. Government and Congress. Both sides exchanged ideas for further cooperation and agreed on concrete follow-up actions.

Ukrainian participants in the meeting with Bob McEwen included: Bishop Valerii Antoniuk – President of the All-Ukrainian Union of Churches of Evangelical Christians-Baptists (AUCEC-B) and current Chair of UCCRO; Mitred Archpriest Oleksa Petriv – Head of the Department for External Relations of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church; Mitred Archpriest Vitalii Danchak – Secretary of the Metropolis of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine for public relations; Bishop Stanislav Nosov – President of the Ukrainian Union Conference of the Seventh-day Adventist Church; Pastor Igor Bandura – Deputy President of AUCEC-B; Pavlo Unguryan – Leader of the Parliamentary Prayer Breakfast Movement in Ukraine; Oleksandr Zaiets – Chairman of the Board of the Institute for Religious Freedom.