Reserve director: Lavra should become "Ukrainian Vatican"

Ostapenko's address to the ambassadors in the Refectory Church. Photo: BBC

The Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra should eventually become a “Ukrainian Vatican,” Maksym Ostapenko, director of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra National Reserve, said on August 6, 2026, during a meeting with Ukrainian diplomats, BBC News Ukraine reported.

Ostapenko’s lecture for the ambassadors was held in the Refectory Church.

The tour for the ambassadors and their spouses – about 50 people in total – was organized by the reserve’s management. The stated purpose of the event was to debunk “myths” surrounding the monastery and show the consequences of the Russian strike on the Dormition Cathedral.

Ostapenko complained that the Lavra is still allegedly perceived around the world as a Russian shrine and urged the diplomats to help change that perception.

“We must all work together to restore justice. We need to squeeze the ‘Russian world’ out of here, but that will take time,” the preserve director said.

According to him, the preserve staff cannot accomplish this task on their own, so he asked the ambassadors to seek out people in their host countries who are interested in “spiritual history.” Only international pressure, Ostapenko added, would make it possible to put an end to what he called a “feral pseudo-empire.”

A separate part of the meeting was devoted to what preserve staff described as seven of the most widespread myths about the Lavra. The diplomats were promised a prepared presentation so they could use its talking points in their work.

Among those taking part in the tour were Ukraine’s Ambassador to the United Kingdom Valerii Zaluzhnyi, Mariana Betsa, ambassadors Nariman Dzhelyal, Vasyl Zvarych, Ihor Brusilo, Vasyl Hamianin and Oleksii Syvak, as well as Ukraine’s Permanent Representative to the international organizations in Vienna, Yurii Vitrenko.

The meeting did not address the return of the monastery to the UOC or the resumption of liturgical life by the Lavra brotherhood.

As the UOJ reported, in July 2026 the Cabinet of Ministers, by a resolution signed by Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko, approved the placement of the National Pantheon on the grounds of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra National Preserve, granting it the status of a memorial complex of nationwide significance. The Ukrainian Institute of National Memory was tasked with developing the concept, while the Ministry of Culture was instructed to determine the exact location and hold an architectural competition. Parliament had previously passed the law on the Pantheon.

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