Russia tortures and murders Christians in Ukraine: what many keep silent about and some applaud

On February 24, 2022, Russia launched a large-scale, unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, an aggression that continues to this day.

Russia has attacked nearly 600 Christian churches in Ukraine: what propagandists are keeping quiet about
Russia's cruelty against the churches in Ukraine and its care with the mosques

Ukraine, a country with 85.7% Christians

There is one fact that many people, including many Christians, seem to overlook: Ukraine is a Christian-majority country. According to a 2023 report by the U.S. Department of State, 85.7% of Ukrainians identify as Christians. 60.8% are Orthodox, 11% are Greek Catholic, 1.4% are Protestant, 1.2% are Roman Catholic, and 11.3% are non-denominational Christians.

To give you an idea, according to a CIS survey from April 2025, 55.4% of Spain is Catholic, and the total percentage of believers is 59%. So, in spiritual terms, Ukraine is a much more religious country than Spain. The percentage of Christians in Ukraine is also higher than in Russia, where according to a report by the US State Department, the total number of Christians is less than 72%, with 71% being Orthodox Christians.

Thus, Putin's war on Ukraine is a war on a predominantly Christian people, a fact systematically overlooked by many Russian supporters who claim to be Christian. In Russian attacks on the Ukrainian civilian population, attacks with thousands of victims are deliberately directed by the Kremlin against residential buildings, schools, hospitals, and even churches.

Nearly 600 churches attacked and 67 clergy murdered by the Russians

In March, I noted here that, according to official Ukrainian government data, Russia has attacked nearly 600 Christian churches in Ukraine. Similarly, a few months ago, the Ukrainian government reported that Russia has murdered 67 priests and religious leaders of various denominations, again while many in the West looked the other way.

One of those killed was the 59-year-old Ukrainian Orthodox priest Stepan Podolchak, who was kidnapped, tortured, and shot in the head by the Russians until he died in Kalanchak, Kherson, in February 2024. A few months earlier, in June 2023, the Russians murdered another Orthodox priest, Mykola Palagniuk, while delivering humanitarian aid to people affected by the floods caused by the Russians' destruction of the Kakhovka Dam. He was 69 years old and was decapitated and had his arms amputated by a Russian bombing raid.

Priests kidnapped and tortured and Catholic organizations banned

To the crimes against Christians must be added the kidnapping and torture of two Catholic priests, Ivan Levitsky and Bohdan Geleta, by the Russians in November 2022 (they were held captive for 18 months) and Russian persecution of some Christian churches. In December 2022, the Russians banned the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, faithful to Rome, in the occupied territories. The ban included the Catholic organizations Caritas and the Knights of Columbus, which have been providing humanitarian aid to the Ukrainian people.

The destruction of Mariupol was celebrated with the cry of “Allah is great”

Let us not forget, moreover, facts such as the celebration of the destruction of Mariupol with cries of "Allah is great" by Russian soldiers of Chechen origin, a fact to which we must add that Russia has a considerable troop reserve in Muslim-majority Russian regions such as Dagestan, Ingushetia, Chechnya or Tatarstan, which perhaps explains the care the Russian army takes with mosques.

The silence of many Christians and the infamous support of Russia by some

The constant Russian attacks on Christian churches and the torture and murders they have been committing against Christians in Ukraine would provide enough content for a long series of articles like this one. However, many Christian religious leaders have never mentioned them, nor have they issued any message of condemnation against these attacks, torture, and murders, not even a simple tweet.

Some Christian religious media systematically silence these events, for reasons that they will one day have to explain to their readers. Likewise, there are Christian intellectuals and communicators who never say anything about these crimes and even support their perpetrators, trying to convince us that Russia is the third Rome and the beacon that Christians must follow to free ourselves from the vices of the decadent West, as if a Russia that breaks abortion records, that invades a neighboring country without provocation and that commits all kinds of war crimes were a reference point for the followers of Christ.

These attitudes are even more inexplicable if we take into account that Russia has as allies some of the countries that most fiercely persecute Christians, such as North Korea (the country that tops the persecution lists every year), communist China, the Islamist dictatorship of Iran, and Cuba. Dictatorships about which, astonishingly, some “Christians” who support Russia never say anything at all regarding their crimes against Christians.

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Photo: Religion on Fire. The Mykola-Vasylivsky Assumption Monastery in Mykilske, Donetsk, belongs to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. It was attacked by Russians on March 6, 2022.