President cheers as Ukraine on cusp of church independence

Poroshenko's comments came after the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Istanbul, home to the global spiritual leader of Orthodox Christians, announced it had drafted a constitutional charter for an "autocephalous", or self-governing, Ukrainian church. Ukraine's push to create an independent church has incensed Moscow at a time of escalating crisis between the two neighbors following Russia's capture of three Ukrainian vessels that Kiev fears may be a precursor to a full-scale invasion. Relations collapsed following Russia's seizure of Crimea from Ukraine in 2014 and the outbreak of a Kremlin-backed insurgency in eastern Ukraine that has killed more than 10,000 people.

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