Commissioner for Human Rights Liudmyla Denisova: Russian invaders continue to deliberately destroy Ukrainian religious sites.
Since the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, at least 116 buildings of spiritual significance have been destroyed, including 91 Orthodox churches.
Mosques, synagogues, Catholic and Protestant churches, religious educational institutions and important administrative buildings of religious organizations were also destroyed.
The largest number of facilities destroyed by the russian invasion of Ukraine has been found in Donetsk, Kyiv and Kharkiv oblasts.
On the Day of Remembrance and Reconciliation, the russian army destroyed the St. George’s Hermitage of the Holy Dormition Svyatogorsk Lavra of the Moscow Patriarchate in Donetsk region with a rocket-propelled grenade strike. The walls and ceilings of the Lavra building were almost completely destroyed, as well as the facades of other modern hermitage buildings.
Deliberate attacks that damage or destroy religious buildings and historical monuments are war crimes under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court and Articles 4 and 5 of the Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict.
