Ukraine's parliament on Tuesday passed a bill that paves the way for a ban of the Russia-linked minority Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC), lawmakers said.

The legislation prohibits the Russian Orthodox Church on Ukrainian territory and envisages a ban, to be approved by a court decision, on religious organisations "affiliated" with it.

Kyiv has cast the minority UOC, which is historically linked to Russia, as a hotbed of Russian influence and complicit in the Kremlin's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

  - Reuters