[citation needed] In November 2014, Bleich strongly criticized Minister of the Interior Arsen Avakov for appointing Vadym Troyan, a former Azov Battalion commander, to the post of police chief of the Kyiv Oblast.

[5] In 2018, he was expelled from his own community,[6] but continued to publicly call himself chief rabbi; another Jewish leader of Ukraine, Michael Tkach, accused Bleich of impostor.

[7] Subsequently, despite the announced herem, he returned to the synagogue; according to Israeli journalist Shimon Briman, everything that is happening is a struggle for influence between Jewish leaders.

[9][10][11] On February 27, 2022, Bleich told Arutz Sheva: "President Zelensky called my community a few hours ago, while waging war, and asked the Jewish people should pray for Ukraine.

"[12] In May 2022, the Board of Deputies of British Jews decided to break with the European Jewish Congress following the latter's reaction to allegations of sexual misconduct by Rabbi Yaakov Bleich.