The Information and Education Department of the UOC reported that on 17 February 2026 staff of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra National Reserve, accompanied by police, forced the doors of the Exaltation of the Cross church and the church of All Venerable Fathers of the Caves at the Near Caves of the Kyiv Holy Dormition Caves Lavra and replaced the locks. For the Conception of St Anne church at the Far Caves the department relayed on 12 May the words of the monastery’s counsel about the breaking of locks and the entry of the reserve’s staff into the church, and for the church of the Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos, also known as the Academic church, at the same place, on 11 June a report from the counsel’s Telegram channel that the reserve’s staff, accompanied by police, had begun to cut the locks. Video of two of these occasions has been published.
Commenting on the events at the Conception of St Anne church, counsel for the monastery stated on 12 May that the proceedings between the community and the reserve over the right to use the buildings and premises of the Lavra were still going on, that there was no final decision, and that the monastery was given no warning.
The reserve’s management holds publicly to the opposite position: on 26 August, after the appeal hearing in Case No. 910/423/23, its director general and its lawyer said that the church side is drawing out the appeal, and the director general added that there is still no court ruling on the lawfulness of the first-instance decision, which he described as one returning the Dormition Cathedral to the state’s use. The monastery’s counsel said the same day that he had sought the recusal of the bench over procedural breaches.
According to the court register, Case No. 910/423/23 is a claim by the religious organisation the court names "Holy Dormition Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra / Male Monastery / of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church" against the National Reserve "Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra" for the removal of obstacles to using the Dormition Cathedral and the Refectory Church. The Commercial Court of Kyiv dismissed the claim on 13 June 2023; on 26 August 2026 the Northern Commercial Court of Appeal, which is hearing the appeal, refused the recusal applications and announced a recess until 29 September.
For 17 February the department points to a video that has been published; for 12 May and 11 June only the Church side’s reports and the monastery counsel’s words are known; whether the actions were lawful has not been decided by any court.
Sources: Information and Education Department of the UOC, 17 February, 12 May and 11 June 2026; Interfax-Ukraine, 26 August 2026, and LB.ua, which relays that report — the reserve’s position; court register: ruling of 26 August 2026 and decision of 13 June 2023.
Correction, 1 October 2026. This item previously said that on 26 August the reserve’s management spoke about the appeal in “the case on termination of the lease”; that is how the press described the case, but according to the court’s own documents in the register the hearing that day was in Case No. 910/423/23, over removing obstacles to using the Dormition Cathedral and the Refectory Church. The item now names the case as the register does and adds that on 26 August the court refused the recusal applications and announced a recess until 29 September; the director general’s words on the first-instance decision are given as Interfax-Ukraine reported them, and the monastery’s counsel’s statement on the court disputes is now dated 12 May and refers to the buildings and premises of the Lavra in general, as in the original source.
Correction, 2 October 2026. The headline and lead previously said, without attributing it, that the locks of four churches had been changed and that they had been replaced three times, and the main text said that on 12 May and 11 June the churches “were opened”. The Church’s reports speak of replacing locks only for the two churches on 17 February; for 12 May they speak of the breaking of locks in the words of the monastery’s counsel, and for 11 June of the reserve’s staff beginning to cut the locks, citing the counsel’s Telegram channel. All three occasions are now given as reports of the Church side, and replacement of the locks is stated only for 17 February. The statement that the two sides describe the events differently has been removed: the reserve’s position on the locks is not in the sources this item relies on. The words “opening of the church” in the second paragraph have likewise been replaced with the neutral “events at the church”: the source speaks of the breaking of locks.
