SW News:

The 59th Country Reports on Religious Freedom published by Catholic aid agency Missio along with Eastern European relief group Renovabis has details about the number of religious structures, including churches and chapels, that were damaged in Ukraine in the ongoing Russian onslaught. The report was authored by Dr Regina Elsner and Dr Iryna Fenno and it contains the effects of the conflict on religion spanning different confessions and Christian denominations. 

Since February 2022, more than 450 places of worship have been destroyed or damaged in the Eastern European country. Most of the targeted structures are either churches or chapels. Among the churches that suffered damage or were razed to the ground in the bombing or mortar attacks, most of them are Orthodox belonging to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and the Orthodox Church of Ukraine. 

Among the damaged or destroyed structures are wayside crosses, chapels, mosques and synagogues. While some churches came under attack by accident because of indiscriminate shelling or anti-aircraft fire, there is enough evidence of targeted attacks on them by the Russian military, said the report. It is also difficult to ascertain the exact number of damaged or destroyed places of worship as the fighting is still raging in some parts of the country and some other parts are still under Russian occupation. 

The report says that there were violations of religious freedom before last year and they have become more intense. “Clerics and believers are being harassed, persecuted and killed by the Russian occupiers in the context of the armed conflicts,” said the authors of the report. It also looks into the Ukrainian government’s handling of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church which is being suspected of collaborating with the Russian Orthodox Church and not alienating itself from the aggressor.