"Metropolitan Pavel was urgently hospitalized today in the cardiology department of one of the hospitals in Kiev and underwent surgery," Chekman wrote on his Telegram channel.
On August 7, Metropolitan Bishop Pavel has been released from custody following a 33 million hryvnia ($900,000) bail payment.
In April, the Ukrainian authorities sent Metropolitan Pavel of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) under house arrest over "collaboration with Russia and inter-religious incitement" charges. On July 14, a court in Kiev ruled to put him in custody until August 14.
The Russian Orthodox Church said that Patriarch Kirill addressed various religious and political prominent figures and urged them to pay attention to the ongoing persecution of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Ukraine.
Tensions between the Ukrainian government and the UOC escalated after Russia launched its special military operation in Ukraine in February 2022. UOC monks were ordered to leave the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, jurisdiction over which is divided between the National Kiev-Pechersk Historical and Cultural Preserve, a Ukrainian cultural organization, and the UOC, for allegedly violating the terms of the lease. Ukrainian Culture Minister Oleksandr Tkachenko then said that the monks could stay in the Lavra if they joined the non-canonical Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU). Lavra monks slammed the unilateral eviction order as illegal as it was not backed by a court decision.
In April, Tkachenko said that the Ukrainian Culture Ministry had formed a commission to look into the use of state property pertaining to the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra.