On 21 July 2024, in the city of Yevpatoria, representatives of the occupation authorities began dismantling the Holy Cross Church of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine. This was preceded by an illegal decision of the occupation Yevpatoria City Court in 2019 to demolish this building.
According to the Prosecutor's Office of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol, the dome of the church has already been removed and its upper part dismantled.
“This small wooden church or chapel, as the parishioners called it, was built by the community. It was built according to a typical project of an ancient Western Ukrainian church – all the elements were made by hand, it was ‘assembled’ without the use of nails, staples and other elements used in modern conditions. According to the plan, this church in Yevpatoria was also supposed to become the only museum of ancient Ukrainian icons in Crimea. The occupiers seized all the ancient icons that were in the church back in 2014. Now it's time to liquidate the church itself,” the Orthodox Church of Ukraine said.
The Verkhovna Rada Committee on Humanitarian and Information Policy condemns the genocidal policy of the russian federation aimed at destroying everything Ukrainian, including religious buildings. As the peninsula's prosecutor's office emphasises, the Church of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross of the OCU is the last Ukrainian church in Crimea.
Such actions grossly violate the requirements of Article 147 of the Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War, 1949, which prohibits the destruction of property not justified by military necessity, as well as Article 56 of the Hague Regulations relative to the Laws and Customs of War, 1907, which explicitly protect religious institutions from seizure, destruction or wilful damage.
In February, Ukraine sent an information submission to the International Criminal Court on the crimes of the russian occupation authorities against religious groups in Crimea. This submission contains evidence of systematic persecution and pressure on religious communities in Crimea, including the destruction of churches of the Crimean Diocese of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine.
Dismantling of the Church of the Holy Cross of the OCU is another proof of russia's repressive actions against religious groups in the occupied territories.