After seizing religious objects from Church, authorities do not care about their condition - media

Ukraine is facing a paradoxical situation: while hundreds of ancient churches and monasteries across the country are in critical condition and are being destroyed due to a lack of state attention, the authorities are actively confiscating existing religious sites from the Church. This problem has again gained wide publicity after the publication of a video by blogger Taras Havryk on the deplorable state of Ukrainian shrines.

According to the Information and Education Department of the UOC, citing the blogger’s YouTube channel, on January 25, 2026, Taras Gavrik presented a video showing religious buildings in a state of ruins. Although the main focus of the material was on the objects of the Lviv region, the blogger emphasized that a similar picture is typical for most regions of the country, indicating the critical situation of a significant part of Ukraine’s spiritual and cultural heritage.

Against the backdrop of this destruction, which has been going on for decades without a real solution to the issue of preservation, the actions of the Ministry of Culture are of serious concern to believers and members of the public. For a long time, the ministry has failed to ensure the proper preservation of many architectural monuments of sacred significance. At the same time, the ministry continues the practice of expropriating existing churches and monasteries and turning them into museums, which, according to activists, only worsens the situation with the preservation of national shrines.

The situation with the churches of the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra is particularly illustrative. Despite the fact that the monastery has been reviving and maintaining this great shrine for decades, since 2023 the monastery has been deprived of the right to use a number of churches. For example, the Refectory Church, which traditionally served as a place of worship, is now being turned by museum workers into a space for social events, exhibitions, and concerts, which causes outrage among parishioners.

In addition, while ordinary believers are often denied access to the Lavra caves, the media have repeatedly recorded how some representatives of the OCU were brought into the shrine on a «blatant basis.» Also on the balance sheet of the reserve are a number of other monastic buildings that have remained abandoned for years: crosses periodically fall from them and plaster crumbles, which clearly illustrates the inaction in maintaining cultural heritage sites.

Earlier, we reported that an incident occurred in the Hetman’s Capital National Historical and Cultural Reserve with the eviction of the sisters of the Baturyn Krupytsia St. Nicholas Convent of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Chernihiv region). According to representatives of the monastery, the actions were carried out without a court decision and with the participation of law enforcement agencies, despite the existence of a valid agreement for the use of the premises and the official registration of the nuns at their place of residence.