Father Stepan Podolchak from the Orthodox Church of Ukraine had refused to betray his oath and his congregation by transferring affiliation to the Moscow patriarchate.

The Russian invaders have, reportedly, killed 59-year-old Stepan Podolchak, a priest of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine and head of a church in occupied Kalanchak (Kherson oblast). While the occupiers claim that Father Stepan died "of a heart attack", this was two days after the Russians abducted him from his home and took him away, barefooted, and with a bag over his head, having turned his home upside down.