Prosecutors seize church taken over by OCU in Bushevo

Holy Trinity Church in the village of Bushevo. Photo: t.me/press_kobl

The Commercial Court of Kyiv Region has upheld a prosecutor’s lawsuit seeking to transfer the 18th-century Holy Trinity Church in the village of Bushevo, Bila Tserkva district, Kyiv region, into state ownership. Before its seizure by OCU representatives in 2025, the church belonged to a community of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, the Kyiv Regional Prosecutor’s Office reported.

The court invalidated the certificate of private ownership for the nationally significant architectural monument and ordered the relevant entry in the State Register of Property Rights to be closed.

According to prosecutors, the Holy Trinity Church is one of the most valuable examples of 18th-century wooden architecture in Right-Bank Ukraine and must remain exclusively in state ownership. The office said there had been no legal grounds for transferring the monument to a religious organization and that no authorization had been issued for the disposal of the cultural heritage site.

Church sources noted that the building had been used by the Ukrainian Orthodox Church community for more than 20 years. UOC believers and clergy had restored and maintained the historic shrine.

In October 2025, the Holy Trinity Church was seized by OCU supporters. According to media reports and eyewitness accounts, members of the Bratstvo organization and activists from Korchynsky’s Basis of the Future group took part in the takeover.

As previously reported by the UOJ, local authorities in Bila Tserkva are attempting to seize a monastery building from the UOC.

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