State-supported Russian actors, including Patriarch Kirill, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, have attacked the Orthodox Church of Ukraine and the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople before and after the Ukrainian body was granted autocephaly, or religious independence. Reports suggest that Russian operatives conducted cyberattacks on Ukrainian church entities as well as those of the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, while Moscow has cut all ties with the Constantinople branch of Orthodox Christianity and any other churches, such as those in Greece and Alexandria, that supported the decision. Even Vladimir Putin himself has weighed in, criticizing the Ukrainian branch and warning of possible bloodshed if rights to worship were not properly respected.