Originally it was planned to invite to the military parade on May 9 all seven members of the Council on Pastoral Care of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine representing seven confessions.
KYIV – The head of the Sector for Cooperation with Religious Organizations of the Department of Humanitarian Policy of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, Oleksandr Melnyk, commented to RISU that originally it was planned to invite to the military parade on May 9 all seven members of the Council on Pastoral Care of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine representing seven confessions: the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Moscow Patriarchate (UOC-MP), the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Kyivan Patriarchate (UOC-KP), the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church (UAOC), the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGCC), the Roman Catholic Church (RCC), Evangelical Christians Baptists, and Muslims. RISU's Ukrainian-language web page posted this story on May 7, 2010.
According to the official, in view of the large number of guests, including foreign ones, it was decided to invite only the head of the council, Archbishop Augustine (Markevych) of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Moscow Patriarchate. However, as Archbishop Augustine is now outside Ukraine, the Council on Pastoral Care of the Ministry of Defense will be represented at the parade by the council's secretary, the Rev. Lubomyr Yavorskyi (Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church).