On 26 January 2026 the agreement between the National Historical and Cultural Reserve “Hetman’s Capital” and the community of the Krupytsky St. Nicholas's Convent in the Chernihiv region on the use of the premises expired. On 28 January four sisters took their personal belongings and moved to a house that is not a listed building, and the complex was returned to state ownership.
The director-general of the reserve told Suspilne that the house has electricity, heating and beds, that the nuns were not put out into the frost, and that the central heating system in the convent is completely frozen. In her account the community may conclude a new agreement for the free use of religious buildings.
Counsel for the community states the opposite: the departure was an eviction carried out without any court decision, the nuns are officially registered as living in their cells and have no other home, and for the duration of martial law Cabinet of Ministers resolution No. 634 of 27 May 2022 entitles a user to automatic renewal of the agreement. In the officials’ conduct he sees the marks of offences under articles 356 and 365 of the Criminal Code, and he is preparing complaints to the law-enforcement bodies and claims to the court. The police spokeswoman for the Chernihiv region said that the police were keeping public order and that no breach of it occurred.
There is no court decision on what this departure was, and neither side holds one. In a video published by counsel, a woman living in the convent says that the sisters had been there for twenty-six years and that all the questions will be settled through the courts.
Sources: Suspilne Chernihiv, 28 January 2026 — both accounts; Information and Education Department of the UOC, 28 January 2026 — the community’s counsel.
