The claim that Ukrainians who celebrate Christmas on January 7 have been questioned by the police is a fabrication. It is perfectly legal to celebrate Christmas on January 7th in Ukraine. There is no evidence that such a sign has actually been posted in any church in the country, nor that police have interrogated worshippers in church.
Pro-Russian sources have circulated a story claiming that a sign was allegedly posted in a Ukrainian church that reads: “Dear parishioners! On January 7, the police will be in our church. All those who come to celebrate Christmas will be questioned. For God’s sake, please do not provoke, stay at home. Faith is what counts.” As is often the case, the propagandists did not specify where this announcement supposedly appeared, making it difficult to verify the news.
But this story is just a provocation. There is no law in Ukraine prohibiting the celebration of Christmas on January 7, as the Constitution guarantees freedom of religion. Currently, the official holiday for Christmas in Ukraine is December 25 (according to the Gregorian calendar), not January 7. However, this does not prevent those who follow the Julian calendar from celebrating Christmas on that date. In addition, Olga Buzuluk, spokesperson for the Main Directorate of the National Police in the Volyn region, commented: “This is not true. There were no interrogations in churches on January 7. This is a fake.” It is easy to create such a fake: one only needs to print out a piece of paper with the “announcement” and photograph it in a random place. However, the propagandists made a glaring mistake here – they used the phrase “у нашого храму” (a literal translation from Russian) instead of the correct Ukrainian equivalent “біля нашого храму”.
The decision to change the official date of Christmas was made by Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada in 2023. This was part of a broader effort to move away from Soviet and Russian traditions and bring Ukraine into line with European practices. December 25, the date of Christmas according to the Gregorian calendar, is observed by most Christian churches worldwide, including Roman Catholic, Protestant, and several Orthodox churches. Russian propagandists are desperately trying to convince the world that this is an interference in religious traditions. However, it is important to emphasize that believers retain the right to celebrate Christmas according to the Julian calendar, as the Ukrainian Constitution guarantees freedom of religion.
This year, Christmas has become a pretext for numerous manipulations by propagandists. Earlier, we debunked claims that most Ukrainians celebrated the holiday on January 7 despite an alleged ban.
