Kivy: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said that around 120 members of the clergy have been killed and approximately 800 religious buildings have been damaged or destroyed since Russia began its full scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Speaking in an interview with the American television programme This Week on Capitol Hill on October 31, Zelenskyy said religious leaders and communities had suffered heavily during the war. He described the deaths as deliberate attacks and said religious buildings, including historic churches, had been struck by Russian weapons.
The announcement highlights the impact of the war on religious leaders and institutions across Ukraine, which is home to Orthodox, Catholic, Protestant, Jewish and Muslim communities.
The scale of the destruction has also been highlighted by Ukrainian monitoring organisations. According to the Religion on Fire project, 807 religious buildings had been damaged or destroyed by the end of September 2026.
The affected sites included 432 buildings belonging to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, 207 used by Protestant communities and 83 associated with the Orthodox Church of Ukraine. The figures also included 37 buildings belonging to Greek and Roman Catholic communities, 24 Jewish religious buildings, eight Muslim religious sites and 16 buildings belonging to other religious communities.
A further 13 religious educational institutions were also reported to have been affected.
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, UNESCO, has separately confirmed damage to 165 religious sites as part of its wider assessment of cultural heritage in Ukraine. Its assessment, updated on October 28, recorded damage to 567 cultural sites across the country, including historic buildings, museums, monuments, libraries and archaeological sites.
The UNESCO figures cover sites confirmed through its assessment process and represent a different measure from the broader Ukrainian monitoring figures.
Several historic religious buildings have suffered damage during Russian attacks. On March 24, Russian drones struck the historic centre of Lviv, which is recognised as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The Bernardine Monastery complex was among the affected locations. Four of the church's 16 stained glass windows were shattered, while another sustained minor damage. The bell tower, built in 1734, was also affected. A nearby residential building within the complex suffered more serious damage and was declared unsafe.
UNESCO expressed concern over the attack and recalled that cultural and religious heritage sites are protected under international conventions.
Another major incident occurred in Kyiv on June 15, when a reported Russian attack damaged the Dormition Cathedral at the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra. The historic religious complex is part of a UNESCO World Heritage property and holds an important place in Ukraine's Orthodox Christian history.
In Kharkiv, the Cathedral of St Nicholas the Wonderworker of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church was damaged during a Russian missile and drone attack on August 15. Shrapnel damaged windows, the surrounding grounds and nearby premises. No parishioners were reported injured.
Beyond the physical destruction of religious buildings, religious communities in Ukrainian territories under Russian occupation have also faced restrictions and intimidation.
A report published by the International Partnership for Human Rights in September 2026 documented testimonies from survivors and witnesses describing pressure on religious communities, arrests of religious leaders, searches of religious premises and restrictions on worship.
The investigation covered areas including Kharkiv, Kherson and Luhansk regions, as well as Crimea. It raised concerns about the treatment of religious groups that refuse to follow Russian religious and political requirements.
The United Nations Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine has also documented restrictions on religious freedom in occupied territories, including cases involving Jehovah's Witnesses and Crimean Tatar Muslims.
The destruction of religious buildings has raised wider concerns about the protection of cultural heritage during the war. Many affected sites are not only places of worship but also important centres of community life and historical identity.
Meanwhile, diplomatic efforts to end the conflict continue. Zelenskyy spoke with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on November 9 about the latest developments and preparations for peace discussions in Abu Dhabi.
Representatives of Ukraine, Russia and the United States are preparing for a new round of negotiations, with discussions expected to focus on possible steps towards ending the war and addressing security arrangements. Ukraine's negotiating team arrived in the United Arab Emirates ahead of the planned talks on November 10.
The destruction of religious buildings and the deaths of religious leaders have added to Ukraine's humanitarian and cultural losses, while restrictions on religious communities in occupied territories have raised further concerns about freedom of religion.