Russians in Occupied Ukraine War Against Religion

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In an attempt to destroy the Ukraine national identity, Russian forces have killed many religious leaders and destroyed 700 churches.  Russians tie their national identity to the Russian Orthodox Church and are trying to cleanse the occupied region of anything that doesn't uphold that mentality.   This, as Putin and the Russian forces portray themselves as being on a holy mission of God.   TWISTED.

Read here about the abuse the religious leadership are having to deal with from the Russian invaders -

PBS - Ukrainian Christian Groups Face Violent Crackdown from Russian Forces

All across Russian-occupied Ukraine, soldiers are shutting down places of worship that don't fit the world Vladimir Putin wants to build.

Read here about how Russian forces in occupied Ukraine torture Christians who are not Russian Orthodox - 
TIME - Russias War against Evangelicals

After they beat Azat Azatyan so bad blood came out of his ears; after they sent electric shocks up his genitals; after they wacked him with pipes and truncheons, the Russians began to interrogate him about his faith. “When did you become a Baptist? When did you become an American spy?” Azat tried to explain that in Ukraine there was freedom of religion, you could just choose your faith. But his torturers saw the world the same way as their predecessors at the KGB did: an American church is just a front for the American state.

Russian Forces Captured, Killed at least 29 Religious Leaders in Occupied Ukraine

Russian soldiers and occupation officials have committed at least 76 acts of religious persecution in Ukraine since the invasion of February 2022 as part of an attempt to destroy national identity, official and church sources said at the International Religious Freedom Summit.
 
Since the invasion, Evangelical Christians, including Baptists, Pentecostals and Seventh-day Adventists, have suffered greatly, Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights in Ukraine Dmytro Lubinets told participants at the summit, taking place in Washington, D.C., Tuesday and Wednesday.
 
“The Russian military has repeatedly threatened the total physical elimination of all Evangelical believers, calling them American spies, sectarians and enemies of the Russian Orthodox people,” Lubinets said at a panel discussion on Tuesday. “To kill a person, to demolish a church, the Russians do everything to destroy us as a nation.”

Two Greek Catholic Priests Taken Prisoner by Russian Forces in Occupied Ukraine

Russia Destroying Ukrainian Churches and Schools

"Many priests, various priests were captured. Or were killed. By the way, they (the Russians) killed 50. And they killed them in different ways. There is all the evidence of how they tortured them," Zelenskyy said.
 
According to the President, the occupiers tortured priests simply because they were supposed to serve Patriarch Kirill of the Russian Orthodox Church. These priests refused to serve the ROC. For this, the occupiers shot them, Zelenskyy noted.
 
In addition, Russia destroyed about 700 churches. "They attacked with bombs, attacked with missiles. And where they entered the territory of our state, they simply destroyed. They set these churches on fire," he concluded.

For those with a subscription to CNN - 
CNN - Russian Religious Repression in Occupied Ukraine

They said we were American spies.  Priests describe Russias crackdown on Evangelicals in occupied Ukraine

Churches Closed and Pastors Arrested in Ukraine

Russia Restricts Churches in Ukraine

500 Ukrainian Churches Damaged, Looted, or Destroyed by Russian Invaders

The Russian military has disproportionately attacked evangelical Christians and “destroyed, damaged, or looted” at least 494 religious buildings, theological institutions, and sacred sites in Ukraine since invading the neighboring nation almost a year ago, according to the Kyiv-based Institute for Religious Freedom (IRF).