Zelensky: Russia's forces killed about 120 clergy members and damaged around 800 religious buildings in Ukraine
President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russian forces killed about 120 clergy members and religious representatives in Ukraine and damaged or destroyed roughly 800 religious buildings. He described the attacks as deliberate. Ukraine's Ministry of Culture reported extensive damage to cultural heritage sites and cultural institutions.
أبرز النقاط
- Zelensky said about 120 clergy members and religious representatives were killed in Ukraine during the war.
- He said the deaths and attacks on churches and religious institutions were deliberate, not accidental.
- Around 800 religious buildings were destroyed or damaged, according to Zelensky.
- Russia's army attacked religious buildings with drones, winged missiles and ballistic missiles, Zelensky said.
- Some damaged or destroyed religious sites were thousands of years old.
- By the end of August, 2,138 cultural heritage sites were damaged or destroyed, including 47 completely destroyed.
- The Ministry of Culture reported damage to 2,640 cultural institutions, of which 569 were completely destroyed.
لماذا يهمّ ذلك
The reported toll connects attacks on clergy and religious institutions with wider destruction of Ukraine's cultural heritage and infrastructure. Zelensky characterized the violence against religious figures and sites as deliberate rather than incidental to military operations. Some damaged buildings are thousands of years old and cannot be fully restored through ordinary repairs, while official figures indicate substantial losses across cultural sectors beyond the military domain.
ماذا حدث
Zelensky said Russian forces killed about 120 clergy members and religious representatives in Ukraine during the war and destroyed or damaged roughly 800 religious buildings. He said the deaths and attacks on churches and religious institutions were targeted acts rather than incidental casualties of military operations. According to him, the Russian army used drones, winged missiles and ballistic missiles against religious sites. He also reported the persecution of Christians, the detention and torture of pastors, and the seizure of churches in temporarily occupied territories. The Ministry of Culture separately reported that by the end of August, 2,138 cultural heritage sites had been damaged or destroyed, including 47 completely destroyed, and that 2,640 cultural institutions, including clubs, libraries, museums, theaters and art schools, had been damaged, with 569 completely destroyed. The ministry cautioned that the actual scale of destruction may be larger because accurate counting is impossible in temporarily occupied territories.
كيف تصفه المصادر الأوكرانية
Ukrainian coverage centers on Zelensky's account of deliberate attacks on clergy, churches and religious institutions, emphasizing the approximately 120 deaths and around 800 damaged or destroyed religious buildings. The reporting highlights the use of drones, winged and ballistic missiles against religious buildings and frames the damage as a loss of Ukrainian heritage, history, art and architecture. Ukrainian sources also provide the broader official Ministry of Culture damage figures for cultural heritage sites and cultural institutions, while noting that counting in occupied territories is incomplete. The reports stress the importance of spreading accurate information about events in Ukraine and in all temporarily occupied territories.
الخلفية
Ukraine's Ministry of Culture said that by the end of August, 2,138 cultural heritage sites had been damaged or destroyed, including 47 completely destroyed. The ministry reported damage to 2,640 cultural institutions, including clubs, libraries, museums, theaters and art schools, of which 569 were completely destroyed. It cautioned that the actual scale of destruction may be larger because accurate counting is impossible in temporarily occupied territories. Zelensky reported the persecution of Christians and the detention and torture of pastors in temporarily occupied territories.