Ukraine never was and never will be a canonical territory of the Russian Orthodox Church, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said on Sunday.

"The Ecumenical Patriarchate has definitively outlawed the annexation of the Kyiv metropolia by Moscow that took place in late 17th century. It said clearly and unequivocally that the Russian Orthodox Church has no canonic title to the Orthodox Church in Ukraine... that our Orthodox Church is not subordinate to the Russian Orthodox Church. And Ukraine never was and never will be a canonic territory of the Russian church," Poroshenko said when speaking on Kyiv's Sophia Square, where the leader of the Kyiv Patriarchate Filaret was due to perform a thanksgiving mass on Sunday.

"It's very simple - the patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church at every service prays for the Russian authorities, the authorities that committed aggression against our state. Patriarch Kirill of the Russian Orthodox Church prays for the Russian army, which kills Ukrainian soldiers, kills Ukrainians. And in Ukraine, unfortunately, there are temples that still remind Patriarch Kirill who delivers these prayers. And can temples, which pray for the patriarch praying for the Russian army, be called Ukrainian?" the head of state said.