Russia has shut down an evangelical Christian church in Ukraine, marking Moscow’s latest move in a “persecution campaign” against Ukrainian evangelicals [1], according to the Institute for the Study of War (ISW).
The U.S.-based think tank said in an assessment published on Tuesday that Russian forces reportedly seizing the Ukrainian Christian Evangelical Church of the Holy Trinity in Mariupol was likely “part of a wider systematic religious persecution campaign in occupied Ukraine.”
Petro Andryushchenko, adviser to Mariupol Mayor Vadym Boychenko, said in a Telegram post on Monday that from 10 to 30 Russian troops were occupying the church after expelling clergy.
Andryushchenko said the Russian occupiers had targeted the church at least in part because it provided a “human shield” for troops, located only five meters from occupied residential buildings.
According to ISW, the “Russian occupation officials most commonly persecute members of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and Protestants, particularly evangelical Baptists.” The think tank said two-thirds of “reported religious repression events in occupied Mariupol” targeted Protestants.