In Ukraine, more than 500 religious buildings have been destroyed or damaged as a result of Russia’s aggressive invasion

From February 24, 2022 to September 24, 2023, as a result of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, at least 500 religious buildings suffered varying degrees of destruction. Of these, more than 100 religious sites were either completely destroyed or severely damaged and can no longer be used for religious services. We can say that every 50 churches in Ukraine have been damaged to one degree or another since the full-scale Russian-Ukrainian war.”

Such data was collected by the Religion on Fire project team, which since March 2022 has been documenting facts of damage to religious buildings and war crimes by the Russian army against religious communities.

Monitoring data from the project indicate that at least 283 Orthodox religious buildings were damaged, and more than 155 Protestant ones. At least 15 Jewish buildings, 12 Catholic and 7 Muslim buildings were also destroyed. At least 7 religious educational institutions also came under fire.

More religious buildings have been damaged in regions where active fighting has occurred or is still ongoing. More than 160 religious buildings were damaged or destroyed in two regions alone: ​​Donetsk (101) and Lugansk (62). At least 80 religious buildings were damaged in the Kyiv region, as well as at least 61 objects in the Kharkov region. At least 55 objects were damaged in the Kherson region, in particular, as a result of the destruction of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power station dam. In several other regions, more than 20 religious buildings were damaged – in Zaporozhye (31), Sumy (30), Chernigov (26) and Nikolaev (21) regions.

Separately, it should be noted that as a result of military operations, at least thirteen religious buildings with the status of cultural monuments of regional significance, and five cultural monuments of national significance were damaged.

The shelling of a religious building during war is prohibited by the 1954 Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict and other international instruments, except in situations where it can affect the achievement of victory and at the same time does not threaten civilians. At the same time, the Russian side regularly resorts to shelling both religious buildings located in residential areas and free-standing ones.