The Lviv City Administration has filed a petition with the Supreme Court demanding that the OCU chapel be demolished

The Lviv City Council continues its legal battle to have the OCU chapel in the Pod Goloskom neighborhood dismantled, despite having lost two court cases. In June 2026, the municipality filed a cassation appeal with the Supreme Court of Ukraine, demanding a review of the lower courts’ rulings in favor of the believers. This was reported by Leopolis.news.

The conflict over the chapel has been ongoing for five years. In 2021, the city administration filed a lawsuit demanding that the chapel be dismantled and the 0.0043-hectare plot of land be vacated, arguing that the territory was occupied without authorization. However, according to attorney Oleksiy Degtyarenko, who represents the OCU, the right to use the plot was legally established as early as the 1960s and subsequently transferred to the religious community. During the court proceedings, which concluded in February and May 2026, the courts of first instance and appellate courts ruled in favor of the believers, citing procedural violations on the part of the city authorities.

Church representatives note that before receiving the chapel as a gift from the religious community, parishioners had been praying for a long time at a simple cross. Despite the authorities’ pre-election promises to allocate land for the construction of a full-scale church, the administration’s position changed dramatically after the election. The detailed plan for the Pod Goloskom neighborhood does not include a site for an Orthodox church, which, according to the lawyer, may indicate pressure from developers or the authorities’ unwillingness to resolve the issue amicably.

At this time, the faithful continue to hope for a pre-trial settlement of the conflict, but there has been no official response from the city council. The church’s rector, Alexei Leonov, is calling on the authorities to seek reconciliation, emphasizing that the community seeks only to hold worship services in peace. The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear the cassation appeal on August 18, 2026.

It is worth noting that, at the same time, the Ukrainian Catholic University, in collaboration with the Lviv City Administration and the holding company “EKO-DOM,” plans to build a new educational center in Lviv. The “UCU Cooperation Center” is intended to serve as a venue for meetings, dialogue, and joint activities for veterans, internally displaced persons, representatives of small and medium-sized businesses, educators, volunteer and charitable organizations, other public sector organizations, administrators, and community leaders.