State Service: 183 churches damaged in Ukraine during the war
On July 24, 2022, the State Service of Ukraine for Ethnic Policy and Freedom of Speech published data on religious structures – churches, mosques, synagogues, educational and administrative buildings of religious communities of Ukraine, which had been damaged by hostilities. Information and interactive maps are available on the DESS website.
Of the 183 damaged religious structures, 173 are Christian. Most of them – 127 – belong to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, which is 73% of all damaged religious buildings. There were also destroyed 22 buildings owned by Protestant communities, 19 – by the OCU, 3 – by the RCC, 2 – by the UGCC, as well as 5 Muslim and 5 Jewish religious buildings.
The largest number of UOC temples were damaged in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions – 45 and 40, respectively. 34 religious buildings of the canonical Church were damaged in the Kyiv region, 25 – in the Kharkiv region.
As the UOJ wrote, at the beginning of July, according to the Institute of Religious Freedom, over 240 churches suffered military actions.
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