Russia has attacked nearly 600 Christian churches in Ukraine: what propagandists are keeping quiet about

Disinformation campaigns about the Russian invasion of Ukraine have unfortunately been ongoing for years.

The truth against the new pro-Russian hoax claiming that Ukraine has banned Christianity
Russia destroys the historic Odessa Orthodox Cathedral in a brutal missile attack

The hoax that Orthodox Christianity has been banned in Ukraine

In recent months, there have been many hoaxes about Ukraine and Orthodox Christianity on social media. As you may recall, I already responded to those hoaxes here in August, which claimed that Zelensky had banned Christianity and the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, something that is completely false. Despite this, the lies continue to circulate.

Yesterday, Rubén Gisbert (who in recent years has been singled out by several Spanish media outlets for spreading pro-Russian disinformation: here, here and here, although in 2022 he claimed that he does not defend Russia), published a hoax on Twitter in which he states:

Russian soldiers restore a Christian Cross as they pass through territory abandoned by the Zelensky regime, which has banned the Orthodox religion and destroyed temples and religious symbols.

The text is accompanied by a video of Russian soldiers raising an Orthodox cross. Gisbert does not indicate the source of the video, so I will: The video was posted on March 25 by Russian internet user Max Divnich, without indicating where it was recorded. The next day it was posted by Russian propagandist Vladimir Solovyov on Telegram on March 26, claiming it was recorded in Kursk. Solovyov's post was in turn shared by Maria Zakharova, director of the Information and Press Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation.

Following Gisbert's post, pro-Russian internet users have been re-spreading the video with messages in Spanish. This morning, the Twitter account Herqles (which spreads a hoax a month ago discrediting a demonstration in support of Ukraine) published the same video as Gisbert, stating the following:

Russian soldiers restore an Orthodox Christian Cross while on territory abandoned by the Zelensky regime, which has banned the religion and destroyed temples and religious symbols.

Truth versus the propagandists' lies

As I pointed out in August, the Orthodox Christian religion has not been banned in Ukraine. To claim this is a blatant deception. What the Ukrainian Parliament did do was pass a law (see PDF) to prevent "the activity of religious organizations that are affiliated with centers of influence of a religious organization (association), the center of management (administration) of which is located outside Ukraine in a state carrying out armed aggression against Ukraine".

This is obviously a reference to the Moscow-dependent Russian Orthodox Church. It should be remembered that the current leader of that church, Kirill, has been openly supporting the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The activity of that church in Ukrainian territory is as abnormal as authorizing the activity in Spain of Islamic clerics dependent on Morocco after a Moroccan invasion of Spain.

Recall that the vast majority of Ukrainians (72%) are Orthodox Christians. Although many of them were followers of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church - Moscow Patriarchate (IOU-PM), this denomination has been losing followers. On May 27, 2022, the IOU-PM declared its "complete autonomy and independence". It should be noted that, to this day, the IOU-PM remains active.

In addition, there are other Orthodox churches in Ukraine. After the IOU-PM, the main one is the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (IOU), an independent Orthodox church headed by Metropolitan Epiphanius I of Kyiv and All Ukraine. In addition, other Orthodox churches are active in Ukraine: the Ruthenian Orthodox Church, the Romanian Orthodox Church, the Canonical Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church (derived from the Polish Orthodox Church), the True Orthodox Church (emerged in 1920), the Armenian Apostolic Church, the Russian Orthodox Church of the Old Rite (based in Moscow but separate from the Russian Orthodox Church), and the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia (dependent on the Russian Orthodox Church).

Russia has attacked 596 Christian buildings in Ukraine.

Furthermore, Russian propagandists' selective focus on Christian churches is striking, given that they never mention any of the Russian attacks against them. Since the beginning of the invasion, Russia has largely attacked Ukrainian Christian buildings, as well as religious centers and representatives of various denominations. I will cite just a few details of these attacks against Christian centers and clerics:

• According to a report (see PDF) published by the Ukrainian Ministry of Culture in February 2025, Russia attacked 642 religious buildings in Ukraine, of which 596 were Christian churches. The vast majority of the attacked religious buildings (396) were Orthodox Christian, of which 338 belong to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate and 58 to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine. In addition, 24 Catholic buildings and 176 Protestant buildings were attacked, as well as 17 Jewish buildings, 8 Muslim buildings, 15 buildings of other denominations, and 9 religious educational institutions. Of the 642 buildings attacked, 53 were completely destroyed, 97 suffered severe damage, 157 suffered medium damage, and 255 suffered minor damage.
• In April 2022, a Russian tank destroyed the headquarters of the Catholic NGO Caritas in Mariupol, killing seven people.
• In June 2023, a Russian attack killed an Orthodox priest while he was distributing humanitarian aid in Bilozerka, in the Kherson region. The priest was decapitated and his arms were amputated.
• In July 2023, a Russian attack destroyed the Odessa Orthodox Cathedral.
• In December 2024, the Catholic Cathedral of St. Nicholas in Kyiv was damaged in a Russian attack on civilian targets.

It must be said that these attacks should not be interpreted exclusively as the invaders' hatred of religion. Russia shows the same contempt for Christian churches in Ukraine as it does for hospitals, kindergartens, schools, universities, museums, and residential buildings, to name a few examples of civilian targets attacked by the Russians.

Herqles' message expressing his opinion on Ukraine

Do you know how many posts Gisbert and Herqles have dedicated to these attacks? Not one. In three years, they haven't posted a single message on Twitter about the hundreds of Russian attacks on Christian churches. It's probably because they didn't have time. However, on February 23, Herqles posted a revealing commentary on Ukraine, stating the following:

No one outside the decadent globalist sphere has the slightest interest in Ukraine's survival anymore; for the US, it is an obstacle, for Russia, a separatist region, and for China, it is indifferent in terms of territorial integrity.

Ukraine is also an obstacle for European patriotic forces, aware that without the Ukrainian problem, a greater alliance in Europe would be possible. These patriotic forces, moreover, aim to carry out a European reconstruction on all fronts, incompatible with making large expenditures or efforts in Ukraine.

Orbán said a few days ago that Ukraine had simply chosen its allies poorly. This is a fair reflection, considering that the greatest supporters of the Ukrainian cause have been the Biden administration, Soros, and Ursula von der Leyen's commission.

Russia's allies are the dictatorships of North Korea, Iran, Communist China, Cuba, and Venezuela (the first four appear on the list of the 50 countries that persecute Christians the most), but this internet user doesn't say a word about these allies. Just as he does about the Russian attacks on Christian churches in Ukraine.

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Photo: Serhii Sternenko. The Odessa Orthodox Cathedral after the Russian attack in July 2023.