Statement by the "Peace Unto All" Regarding the Strike on the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra

On the night of June 14–15, a massive strike on Kyiv triggered a large-scale fire at the Dormition Cathedral of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra. The exact extent of the damage and destruction is currently being assessed.

Photo: RBC Ukraine

This tragedy occurred immediately after the Russian Orthodox Church celebrated the feast of the "Saints of the Russian Land," including those who founded the Lavra and led ascetic lives there since the 11th century—the Saint Anthony and Theodosius of the Caves.

As is typical, Russian authorities declared that "the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation do not plan or conduct strikes against civilian infrastructure." Concurrently, they shifted the blame for the attack on the Lavra to "Western countries," alleging they had "supplied the Kyiv regime with expired missiles."

This is a long-standing and familiar principle of propaganda: the more monstrous the lie, the more persistently it is repeated in the hope that it will be believed.

Since the very beginning of the full-scale invasion, the "defense of canonical Orthodoxy" has been a cornerstone of the Kremlin's official rhetoric. Yet military actions, ostensibly launched for the benefit of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC), have resulted in countless casualties among civilians and soldiers defending their country from aggression.

According to statistics compiled by the "Christians Against War" project, more than 88 clergy and church staff have been killed, including 25 representatives of the UOC.

In the occupied territories, religious leaders whose loyalty is questioned face extrajudicial detention, torture, and murder. Archpriest Konstantin Maksimov, a UOC cleric who refused to commemorate Patriarch Kirill in an occupied area, was sentenced to 14 years in prison.

The grief that this war has brought to Ukrainian land under the pretext of its "defense" and "liberation" is immeasurable.

The strike on the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra is yet another example of the cynicism and hypocrisy of Russia's self-proclaimed "defenders of Orthodoxy." It exposes the true cost of the rhetoric surrounding a "brotherly nation," the "protection of Orthodoxy," and "traditional values."

An expiration date has indeed passed—not for Ukrainian air defense systems, but for Putinism. This is a political system built upon perpetual power, impunity, fear, and deceit; and above all, a readiness to retain control by any means necessary, completely disregarding casualties among both Ukrainians and Russians.

An unyielding Kyiv leaves the expired villain no peace.

As before, we call for an immediate end to Russian aggression, the liberation of occupied territories, the release of prisoners of war and political prisoners, the payment of reparations, and the prosecution of those responsible for planning, preparing, initiating, and waging an aggressive war (as stipulated under Article 353 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation), as well as the war crimes that accompany it. Board of  NGO ''Peace Unto All''

Priest Valerian Dunin-Barkovsky

Archpriest Andrey Kordochkin 

Musician Pavel Fakhrtdinov