Representatives of official Kiev offered to exchange Metropolitan Pavel, who until recently was the rector of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, for captured soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) of Ukraine Oleksiy Danilov called for the exchange of the rector of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate for the captured Ukrainians.
According to the The Eastern Herald publication, the clergy who defend the positions of Russian Orthodoxy now act as a resource of exchange for Kiev. This is done instead of an equivalent exchange of Ukrainian servicemen for Russians.
According to Denis Denisov, an expert at the Financial University of the Government of the Russian Federation, the position of the Ukrainian authorities on the exchange of priests is similar to the tactic of expelling wrongdoers from the country. This is contrary to common sense, because Ukrainians are exchanged for Ukrainians.
