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. On 12 May the Conception of St Anne church at the Far Caves was opened in the same way, and on 11 June the church of the Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos, also known as the Academic church, at the same place. Video of two of these occasions has been published.
Counsel for the monastery states that the proceedings between the community and the reserve over the right to use these buildings are still going on, that there is no final decision, and that the monastery was given no warning.
The reserve’s management holds publicly to the opposite position: on 26 August its director general and its lawyer said that the church side is drawing out the appeal in the case on termination of the lease, and that the court has still not ruled on returning the Dormition Cathedral to the state. The monastery’s counsel said the same day that he had sought the recusal of the bench over procedural breaches.
That the locks were changed is documented; whether it was lawful has not been decided by any court.
Sources: Information and Education Department of the UOC, 17 February, 12 May and 11 June 2026; LB.ua, 26 August 2026 — the reserve’s position.
