"Is the scandal hushed up?": Ministry of Culture changed its mind about dismissing the head of the National Conservation Area “St. Sophia of Kyiv”

Nelia Kukhovalska, the director general of the National Conservation Area “St. Sophia of Kyiv”, who was recently accused by the Ministry of Culture of a number of official violations, has been reappointed to her previous position. Prior to this, the media published information that the head of the Ministry of Culture, Mykola Tochytskyi, was going to fire Kukhovalska, which caused a strong protest from the staff of the Sophia of Kyiv Reserve. This was reported on the official Facebook page of St. Sophia of Kyiv.

“On June 20, 2025, the order of the Minister of Culture and Strategic Communications of Ukraine Mykola Tochytskyi “On the appointment of Kukovalska N. М.”. This order became for our entire team a testament to the victory of the state and patriotic approach in solving an important problem that has been the focus of attention of the general public, the professional and international community, the media and our defenders,” — the staff of the reserve said.

Earlier it was reported that on April 18, 2025, on Good Friday, a day of special fasting and mourning for Christians, a wedding celebration took place on the territory of the National Conservation Area “St. Sophia of Kyiv”. According to Oleksiy Zhukov, head of the department for control and supervision over compliance with legislation on the protection of cultural heritage at the Ministry of Culture, another similar event took place there the next day, on Holy Saturday. In this regard, the Ministry of Culture accused the director general of the Sophia of Kyiv Reserve, Nelya Kukhovalska, of unprofessionalism and proposed to dismiss her from her position.