Kiev Catholics complain about inaction of the Ministry of Culture in repairing St. Nicholas Church

The Roman Catholic community in Kiev complains about the reluctance of the Ukrainian Ministry of Culture to repair the St. Nicholas Church, which is state-owned. The RCC says that three months after the Russian shelling of Kiev, which damaged the church, the Ministry of Culture has not bothered to start any work, although earlier the institution said that the repair will be carried out with UNESCO funds. This is reported on the official page of the Roman Catholic parish of St. Nicholas in Kiev.

“3 months the Ministry of culture does not remove the broken windows after the shelling of the rf in the Church: the Catholic community petitioned that will do it at its own expense. It’s been almost 3 months since the Russian capital was shelled, resulting in damage to the neo-Gothic St. Nicholas Church. The Ministry of Culture stated that they would remove the hanging glass, but as we can see the glass continues to hang from the Gothic towers of the monument. The inaction of the Ministry of Culture worsens the consequences of the rocket attack on the church building – the unrepaired roof, which leaks and leads to soaking and rotting of the wood of the roof structures and insulation. Further delay in carrying out “priority anti-avacation and urgent conservation measures” to repair and restore the roofing of the church building threatens the physical preservation of the architectural monument of national importance”, – noted in the RCC.

Recall, March 13, 2025 Dnipropetrovsk District Administrative Court published a decision, according to which the Ministry of Culture of Ukraine was obliged to transfer St. Nicholas Church of Kiev into the ownership of the local Roman Catholic community. According to the published text, the court recognized the previous decisions of the Ministry of Culture in this matter as unauthorized. However, it appears that the RCC community has not yet received full ownership of the premises.