Andriy Yusov, the press representative of the Main Directorate of Intelligence of the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense (HUR MO), responded to claims made by Putin’s propaganda that attempt to justify the Russian-Ukrainian war as a means of protecting Orthodox values and virtues.
This was reported by NV.
"Putin accuses Ukrainians of allegedly violating the rights of believers, despite all available data indicating that society does not support this claim," said Andriy Yusov, a spokesperson for the HUR MO, during a discussion at the Security Architecture Forum held in Kyiv on June 1. "In contrast, it is Putin and his army who have physically destroyed the largest number of Orthodox Christians in Europe since World War II."
As a confirmation of this statement, on the night of June 1, 2026, the Orthodox Church Complex of St. Sergius of Radonezh, belonging to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate), was damaged by Russian missile and UAV attacks in the Solomyanskyi district of Kyiv.
According to the Religious Information Service of Ukraine, during the four years of full-scale invasion, from February 24, 2022, to February 24, 2026, at least 742 cases of destruction or damage to religious and spiritual buildings have been recorded in Ukraine. Of these, 395 belong to the UOC-MP, while 75 belong to the OCU.
Yusov emphasizes that the aggressive "diplomacy" of Putin's regime extends beyond Ukraine and into all spheres of public life.
"There are no elections in the free world where Putin hasn't tried to exert pressure," he stated. "Sometimes this is done indirectly; other times, it is executed absolutely brutally, as we are currently witnessing in Armenia and Moldova. This is undisguised political aggression."