A UOC priest wanted for facilitating draft evasion has been located in the Czech Republic, according to Zoznam Zprávy.

This is reported by the Czech publication Seznam Zprávy.

In August, Ukrainian media and individual journalists wrote that border guards detained Holodnyak while he was attempting to transport six men of conscription age across the border in a Volkswagen Transporter van.

Afterwards, he was taken for a medical examination, but he disappeared there, according to Seznam Zprávy journalists. It was only later revealed that Holodnyak had traveled to the Czech Republic.

The Prague bishop Michal Dandar allegedly condemned him for evading the law, but at the same time found him a place in one of the Czech churches in the town of Milovice. Priest Vladimir Felkan of the Orthodox Church of Saint Catherine of Alexandria confirmed to journalists that Holodnyak occasionally conducts services there.

“We are not happy that he is here; people do not like it, but Michal Dandar sent him here, and there is nothing I can do about it,” he added.

Felkan states that the Prague bishop sent Holodnyak to supposedly assist him, but he does not require any help: “Ukrainian police are looking for him, there are his photographs from services on Facebook, and he told me that he can post anything he wants on Facebook. I would be very glad if he were no longer here.”

It should be noted that Dandar is rumored to have connections with Russia. According to Seznam Zprávy, he appears in the files of the Czechoslovak State Security Service under the codename “Misha.”

Czech police spokesperson Jakub Vinchalek told journalists that for Holodnyak's expulsion, the Ukrainian side must issue an international arrest warrant. Otherwise, he said, the Czech police cannot do anything, because “if a person meets the appropriate requirements, he is legally on our territory.”

Back in November, journalist Vitaliy Hlahola wrote that Holodnyak moved to the Czech Republic after being placed on the wanted list. According to him, the Khust Diocese of the UOC-MP, to which he belonged, did not impose any sanctions on him.