Russian forces have destroyed or damaged no fewer than 600 churches in Ukraine since the 2022 invasion, a report has said.
The churches are part of the 630 religious structures destroyed or damaged by the Russian forces since the beginning of the conflict on February 24, 2022. Of the figure, 206 are evangelicals.
The report was compiled by a European and Asian Christian (Eurasia) ministry dedicated to spreading the gospel across former Soviet nations.
Crosswalk Headlines, quoting the report from Mission Eurasia, said the majority of destruction of and damage to churches is from missiles, drones, and artillery strikes, although religious structures also have been “deliberately looted by Russian soldiers” and “closed or repurposed into administrative buildings by occupation authorities.”
It also said Russian forces seized churches to use as military bases or to conceal firing positions.
Eurasia is a ministry dedicated to training and mobilising Christian leaders in Soviet’s 13 former nations.
“New reports concerning Russian soldiers seizing or looting yet another church or prayer house appear almost every week,” the report said.
President of Mission Eurasia, Sergey N. Rakhuba, said, “In Ukraine, there is lots of persecution on behalf of the Russians. When they take over and conquer territories, they basically raze the churches – they push them out. They intimidate pastors, ministers, priests, church leaders and basically push everybody out of that area.”
Religious freedom
Until the 2022 Russian invasion, Christians in Ukraine enjoyed religious freedom.
Rakhuba said there was no other country around Ukraine where there was religious freedom than the country.
“I don’t know of any other country surrounding Ukraine where there is more religious freedom. The Ukrainian government especially promotes religious freedom, giving all believers – every single church tradition and faith tradition – equal rights to worship the way they want,” he said.
The Mission Eurasia president, who has lived in both Russia and Ukraine, noted that the difference in religious freedom in the two countries is dramatic.
He said the group moved out of Moscow, the Russian capital, because of pressures and persecutions.
According to him, “every single foreign missionary organisation that had any foreign affiliation was kicked out of Russia. Where did they move? They all mostly moved to Ukraine because they wanted to stay in the same region – and Ukraine, with open arms, welcomed them.”
Rakhuba said the Russian Orthodox Church has “come to function more as a cultural political arm of the government rather than a spiritual institution.”
He called for prayer for Ukraine, saying “I want Christians in America to continue praying that God gives victory to Ukraine so that they can defend their freedom, their freedom to worship, their independence, and their sovereignty.”