Imam Chaplain: There are no interreligious conflicts in the Ukrainian military

Chaplain Pavlo Fedosov shared this perspective in an interview with Army Inform.

He believes that Ukrainian society is mature and tolerant, which is why he has never witnessed conflicts based on religious differences during his service.

"Conflict situations in the army, of course, sometimes arise, especially during combat operations when our mental state is under constant pressure. However, they do not relate to religion. We all came here to defend Ukraine, and if you look at it from a global perspective, our fight for a comfortable world entails multiculturalism and multi-denominationalism, and all reasonable people understand that. Thus, disputes on this basis are absent. Due to the rapid development of military chaplaincy, we are responsible for addressing any questionable issues that may arise in this field," explained the chaplain.

"Even though I am a Muslim, as a chaplain, I need to be proficient in all the rituals and practices of Christianity, Judaism, and other religions. In general, chaplaincy is a relatively new service in the military, so many processes are still being fine-tuned. To make everything work like clockwork, it's necessary to learn, communicate, gather together, and discuss the system itself. However, this is not possible during active combat operations, as we are needed by our soldiers to strengthen their morale in moments of doubt and decline, which sometimes occur," the imam said.

He explained the importance of chaplains in the military: "They serve as a reliable support. Because for military effectiveness, soldiers need not only to be confident in their ammunition and weapons but also to understand that they are protected by God, a hidden force that will save them from enemy fire. In reality, a chaplain is the confidence of soldiers that higher powers are safeguarding them."

Currently, there are only 2 imam chaplains in the Ukrainian Armed Forces.