In Ukraine, new cases of church destruction recorded over government inaction
Against the backdrop of Ukrainian authorities’ statements about the confiscation of churches, the condition of the holy sites points to the Ministry of Culture’s inaction and the loss of cultural heritage.
On February 4, 2026, materials were published online showing the destruction and neglected condition of religious buildings in various regions of Ukraine, which fall under the responsibility of government authorities, reports the UOC Information and Education Department, citing open sources.
Against the backdrop of decisions by the Ministry of Culture of Ukraine to transfer active UOC churches and monasteries to the status of secular museums in January 2026, public attention has been drawn to numerous cases of neglect of sacred monuments. In particular, this concerns the 18th-century Carmelite monastery in the village of Kysylyn in the Volyn region, which, according to journalists’ assessments, can no longer be fully restored and can only be partially conserved.
There are also reports about the 16th-century Nativity of the Theotokos Monastery in the village of Novyi Zahoriv, which, according to the authors of the publications, is in a condition close to total destruction. A similar situation has been recorded in the Ternopil region, where the Church of St. John of Nepomuk in the village of Turylche has lost its roof and windows, and the interior of the building continues to deteriorate.
The Holy Trinity Church in the village of Nevirkiv, Rivne region, is being destroyed; and in the Lviv region, the All Saints Church in the village of Hodovytsia has been declared unsafe. Additionally, there are reports about the neo-Gothic Church of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary built in 1850, which was used as a grain storage facility during Soviet times, leading to the loss of its interiors.
Special attention is given to the church in the village of Kukolnyky in the Ivano-Frankivsk region, where no roof and collapsing walls, as well as to the early 19th-century Church of the Nativity of Christ in the village of Verhuny in the Poltava region, where signs of vandalism have been recorded. According to local residents, most of these sites have remained without proper care for decades.
Thus, against the backdrop of authorities' statements about the need to seize churches from religious communities allegedly due to violations of preservation conditions, the actual state of dozens of sacred monuments testifies to years of inaction by relevant state structures and the loss of a significant part of Ukraine's spiritual and cultural heritage.
Earlier, the UOJ wrote that the Ministry of Culture terminated the agreement with the UOC for the Baturyn Monastery in the Chernihiv region.
