The court in Ukraine rejected the appeal of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC), which asked to cancel the decision on its renaming, which opens the way to the ban of the UOC. This is stated in the decision of the Court of Appeal posted on the Internet portal of the Unified Judicial Register of Ukraine.

"The Sixth Administrative Court of Appeal <...> ruled: appeals of the Kiev Metropolia of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, the Pochaev Holy Dormition Lavra, the Holy Dormition Kiev-Pechersk Lavra (male monastery) To leave the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, the religious organization of the St. Florovsky Convent of the city of Kiev of the Kiev diocese without satisfaction, and the decision of the Kiev District Administrative Court of May 15, 2023 - unchanged," the court decision says.

On December 20, 2018, the Verkhovna Rada adopted amendments to the law "On Freedom of Conscience and Religious Organizations". According to them, religious organizations whose center is located in Russia are required to report this in their full official name. In fact, the law obliged the Ukrainian Orthodox Church to change its name to the "Russian Orthodox Church in Ukraine".

On April 22, 2019, the District Administrative Court of Kiev stopped the process of forcibly renaming the UOC. The Ministry of Culture filed an appeal against this decision, but on July 22 of the same year, the Sixth Court of Appeal of Kiev refused to satisfy it. In December 2022, the Kiev District Administrative Court, whose decisions caused a negative reaction from the Ukrainian authorities, was liquidated, and the Kiev District Administrative Court (KOAS) was created instead.

On May 15, 2023, the Kiev District Administrative Court overturned the decision issued in April 2019 by the District Administrative Court of Kiev to suspend the actions of the authorities to rename the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. The COAS also ruled that the UOC has not severed ties with the Russian Orthodox Church and is part of it, which may become the basis for the ban of the canonical church. The Legal Department of the UOC challenged this decision in the Court of Appeal, which has now rejected the petition of the canonical church and upheld the decision of the lower court.

In January 2023, the government of Ukraine submitted to parliament a bill prepared on behalf of the President of Ukraine Vladimir Zelensky and aimed at banning the canonical UOC if the Ukrainian authorities conclude that it is connected with Russia. After that, experts of the State Service of Ukraine for Ethnopolitics and Freedom of Conscience under the Cabinet of Ministers published a conclusion according to which the UOC, despite the adoption of the new charter, remains subordinate to the Russian Orthodox Church. On October 19, the Verkhovna Rada supported this bill in the first reading, the date of consideration in the second reading has not yet been set.