The Ukrainian government has shut down thousands of churches and monasteries.

Posted by The Pete Quiñones Show, Oct 1, 2026Checked Nov 2, 2026

Polygraph verdictMixed

Sources: 3 contradict3 support2 context
Said: 1 time·
Confidence: 45%

The Pete Quiñones ShowOct 1, 2026

The sources support that the Ukrainian government evicted the UOC from the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra, seized and transferred church properties to the OCU, and opened criminal cases against clergy, but none give a count of churches or monasteries closed.

This claim is about the present, so it is judged as of the day it was checked.

What we found

Contradicts. No source gives a count of churches or monasteries closed by the Ukrainian government, so the 'thousands' figure is unsupported; the reported scale is individual sites and some regions where UOC congregations lost all property.[3][4][5]

Supports. The government evicted the Ukrainian Orthodox Church from the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra monastery in March 2023 after terminating its lease, and the monks refused to leave.[1][2]

Supports. Ukrainian authorities have seized church property and transferred UOC churches to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, and the government has opened over two hundred cases against UOC priests.[3][4][6]

Context. The ~800 damaged religious sites and ~120 clergy killed reported in 2026 were attributed to Russian attacks, so they do not measure government closures.[7][8]