President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in an interview with CBN on 11 December that Russian forces killed 50 priests and 700 churhces during the Russian invasion.

Russia’s destruction of cultural sites in Ukraine is part of a broader strategy to undermine Ukrainian identity. This systematic targeting has escalated since the full-scale invasion began in February 2022, with reports indicating that over 1,080 cultural heritage sites have been either destroyed or damaged due to Russian military actions.

“Russians treat different Ukrainian churches approximately like schools,” Zelenskyy said. “Everywhere they entered our territories, they destroyed schools and churches. Simply to leave no trace behind.”

The president said that 50 priests have been killed “in different ways.” He added that these killings were not random, but deliberate acts of violence against religious workers who prioritize serving people and God over allegiance to the Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill.

Ukraine adopted the law on 20 August to ban Russian-affiliated religious organizations. The Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate (UOC MP) havs connection to the religious institution, which bless Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine

On 13 June 2023, Russian artillery struck Bilozirka in the Kherson Oblast, hitting a church courtyard and killing a priest and injuring a woman.

On 23 July 2023, a Russian missile attack destroyed the Spaso-Preobrazhensky Cathedral in Odesa.

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