The now-former Deputy Head of the President's Office, and the current adviser to President Zelensky, Serhiy Trofimov is considered one of the lobbyists of the UOC-MP. He forced the heads of regional state administrations to block the registration of the OCU communities.
During the live TV show "What Was That" on Channel 24, Metropolitan Epifaniy noted that in Ukraine there is a problem: where a community wants to change affiliation to the local church, it cannot do so. The head of the OCU met with the President, the Prime Minister, and the relevant committee to discuss this issue.
According to the Metropolitan, he has repeatedly shared to the media that there are problems in this area: public officials continue to create problems. He noted that the First Deputy Chairman of the President's Office, Serhiy Trofimov was recorded as saying that he would allegedly settle the situation.
"An official cannot understand such cases. There are relevant institutions. There are courts. You can apply if you think that something has been done unfairly or incorrectly," the Metropolitan said.
The media claim that Trofimov ordered the governors not to register the OCU communities.
According to Metropolitan Epifaniy, some of them told him openly that allegedly they had written instructions:
not to register communities;
revoke the registration of already registered communities. But some conscious pro-Ukrainian governors did not obey.
Metropolitan Epifaniy noted: "the situation after Trofimov's resignation has not changed significantly, but we will do everything to correct it."