OCU Cathedral to be built in Lviv on site of demolished UOC church

Lviv city authorities have announced plans to build an OCU cathedral on the site where the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) church used to be located. The former UOC church was dismantled in April 2023 by the decision of the city authorities, after which the land was transferred to the OCU community.

According to tvoemisto.tv, on February 13, 2026, during a meeting of the executive committee of the Lviv City Council, the intention to build the so-called “Sykhiv Living Room” – a multifunctional public facility – and a new church nearby at 91 Chervona Kalynya Avenue was announced. Yevhen Boyko, chairman of the executive committee of the Lviv City Council, confirmed in a comment to the publication “Your City” that it is the construction of an Orthodox cathedral church of the Lviv-Sokal Diocese of the OCU.

This church is planned to be built on a site located at 89 Chervona Kalynya Avenue, where the Church of St. Prince Volodymyr the Great used to be. Boyko recalled that until April 2023, a small chapel of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church was located on this site. The city authorities dismantled it, calling it “illegal.”

Currently, the site is registered for the OCU community and is considered by it as a place for the construction of the Cathedral of the Lviv-Sokal Eparchy. Earlier, on August 23, 2023, the Lviv City Council approved the land management project without discussion and transferred the 0.764-hectare plot to the permanent use of the OCU parish. The rector of the demolished St. Volodymyr’s Church of the UOC, Archpriest Vladimir Kuzio, said that the community had legally owned the site since 1991, and the church itself had repeatedly been subjected to arson and dismantling attempts until its final demolition by excavators on April 6, 2023.

As reported, the Lviv Regional Council continues to purge the believers of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in the region. The regional authorities are concerned that despite the legal liquidation of the UOC religious communities and the seizure of the churches of the canonical Church, believers still gather for prayer in private homes in Lviv and other cities of the region. The Lviv Regional State Administration stated that the Security Service of Ukraine will be involved in the complete liquidation of the UOC “cells”.