In the early hours of June 15, Russian drones struck the Dormition Cathedral, part of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra monastery complex. As a former Ukrainian Olympic athlete, I have visited Ukraine over 20 times, and out of all the sacred and historic sites I grew to love, none is so meaningful to me as the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra. To me, visiting the Lavra became almost synonymous with visiting Kyiv; in some intangible way, I could sense that the Lavra was the very heart of Kyiv, perhaps even of Ukraine. Ukrainians’ responses to the recent attack have confirmed that intuition; as Archimandrite Avraamiy, a vicar at the Lavra, put it, the attack felt like “an enemy bullet had hit you straight in the heart.” By striking the Lavra, Russia struck at the heart of Ukraine’s distinctive cultural and Christian heritage, but it has also exposed the hollowness of the Putin regime’s narrative that Moscow is the defender of Christendom. 

The Dormition Cathedral is the main church in the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra complex, which dates back nearly 1000 years and bears extraordinary religious and cultural significance for both Ukrainian and Russian Orthodox Christians. The histories of Christianity in Ukraine and Russia are intertwined, beginning with the Baptism of Volodymyr of Kyivan Rus’ in the year 988, a signal event in the Christianization of the Slavic peoples. The current Russian regime’s insistence that Moscow is the sole legitimate heir of this baptism and that Ukrainians and Russians are, in fact, one Orthodox people forms the backbone of the pseudo-religious ideology driving Russia’s invasion. The Orthodox Christian landscape in Ukraine has long been complex, with rival churches claiming to be the authentic Orthodox church in Ukraine. This situation has come to a head over the past several years, with the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU) receiving autocephaly (spiritual self-governance) from the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, Bartholomew I, in 2019 and quickly becoming the primary Orthodox church in Ukraine. Meanwhile, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC), which has traditionally been subordinate to the Moscow Patriarchate currently led by Kirill, formally declared its independence following Russia’s 2022 invasion and claims to maintain only a “spiritual tie” to Moscow. Nonetheless, many Ukrainians have continued to view the UOC with suspicion, and the Ukrainian government has curtailed its activities, alleging that the UOC is supporting Russia’s aggression.

The recent history of the Lavra mirrors that of Russian and Ukrainian Orthodoxy. After the fall of the Soviet Union and Ukraine’s independence, the Ukrainian government took ownership of the Lavra, but until recently, it was leased and maintained by the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Moscow Patriarchate (now the UOC). Following Russia’s 2022 invasion, however, the status of the Lavra became hotly contested. Due to the UOC’s alleged pro-Russian activities, the Ukrainian government refused to renew the UOC’s lease on the Lavra in 2023 and even raided the complex. Some UOC monks refused to leave, leading to a tense standoff with officials. Predictably, Russia responded to this situation with outrage. Although the Lavra is now primarily run by the OCU, some UOC priests and monks still remain.

This (admittedly confusing) history is vital for understanding what the strike on the Lavra revealed about Russia’s true motives. Putin’s Russia has positioned itself as the “Third Rome,” the savior of Western civilization and Christendom, on a mission to restore the rightful unity of Orthodox Rus’ and save Kyiv from Ukrainian “Nazis.” This narrative has found a willing audience among many right-wing American Christians. Of course, the Putin regime has proven time and again that it is anything but a defender of Christianity. According to the Atlantic Council, since 2022 “more than six hundred churches have been damaged or destroyed across Ukraine. The Kremlin has also sought to suppress all forms of Christianity other than the Russian Orthodox Church in areas under Russian occupation, with dozens of religious leaders killed or subjected to human rights abuses including torture.” Nonetheless, conservative Christian influencers continue to fall for the Russian propaganda. The most recent example of this is Candace Owens, who visited Russia and seems to have concluded from the beauty of Russian churches that the entire country is a paragon of Christian virtue.

By striking a monastery sacred not only to Ukrainians but also to Russians, Russia has made the absurdity of its “defender of Christendom” moniker clearer than ever. Putin’s Russia has proven it is willing to destroy the very Christian heritage it claims as its own. 

As long as the Lavra was in the hands of the UOC, Russia could claim that this sacred landmark remained in its orbit. Now, the Lavra has been transferred to the autocephalous OCU and Russia has been experiencing setbacks on the battlefield. Ukrainian soldiers have recaptured over 600 square kilometers of territory this year, and as the Atlantic Council has reported, “Ukrainian drone strikes on oil refineries are contributing to a mounting fuel crisis in regions across Russia.” There is a growing sense that Russia is not winning and is perhaps even losing the war. In this context, it seems obvious that Russia’s recent escalation of strikes on Ukrainian cities and cultural landmarks signals growing desperation. The attack on the Lavra fits this pattern; although the site is considered sacred to Russia, striking it is the equivalent of saying, “If we can’t have it, you can’t either.”

Of course, such an attitude reveals the hollowness at the core of Russia’s “savior of Christendom” narrative. Not only is Russia eager to destroy expressions of Christianity that do not adhere to the government-sanctioned brand of Russian Orthodoxy, but it is willing to sacrifice its own sacred sites at the altar of pro-war ideology. If history repeats itself, then the history of the Dormition Cathedral is telling. In 1941, after the Nazi occupation of Kyiv, the cathedral exploded. Although the source of the explosion is contested, it is widely believed that the retreating Soviets laced the area with mines. The parallels between this story and Russia’s most recent attack on the cathedral are striking. In 1941, the atheistic Soviet regime demolished the cathedral lest the Nazis take possession of it; in 2026, the allegedly Christian regime badly damaged the cathedral because it had given up hope of wresting control of it from the so-called “Nazi” Ukrainians. Clearly, the current regime, run by a former KGB officer, has more in common with its communist predecessor than with a truly Christian government. 

Even if it turns out that the Russians did not intend to strike the Lavra, their precise intentions matter little. Russia believes that Kyiv is the birthplace of Russian civilization and knows full well that its attacks on Ukraine place the very religious and cultural sites it claims to revere at risk. A Russia truly interested in saving Christendom would have greater respect for the sanctity of religious sites, not to mention the sanctity of innocent human life. If Candace Owens cares about preserving Christian heritage and values, opposing Putin’s murderous regime is a good place to start.