Supreme Court rules demolition of Desiatynnyi Monastery in Kyiv was lawful

Demolition of the Desiatynnyi Monastery. Photo: Babel

On June 23, 2025, the Supreme Court held a hearing in the case brought by the religious community of the Desiatynnyi (Tithe) Monastery in Kyiv against the National Museum of the History of Ukraine over the demolition of the Volodymyr-Olha Church, RBC-Ukraine reports.

According to the report, the court “upheld the decisions of the lower courts, which recognized the demolition of the illegally constructed chapel on the museum grounds as lawful.”

The church community had challenged the actions of the state bailiff, who had hired a private company to carry out the demolition.

The Supreme Court found these actions lawful because the monastery had failed to comply with the Commercial Court’s ruling requiring it to demolish the church on its own.

The Supreme Court’s decision is final and not subject to appeal.

As previously reported by the UOJ, on October 1, 2024, the Court of Appeal had granted the religious community’s complaint and overturned the ruling of the Kyiv Commercial Court, which had previously declined to consider the complaint about the state bailiff’s actions. The appellate court’s decision sent the case back to the first-instance court for reconsideration.

At the time, lawyer and priest Nikita Chekman said in his statement: “We believe that the actions of the state bailiff, who unilaterally brought in a private company to carry out this unauthorized demolition of the church, were unlawful. We understand this will not restore the church that was arbitrarily destroyed by godless people, but we believe that everyone who took part in these illegal actions must be held accountable before God and before the law.”

Read also