Ukraine monastery hit in Russian missile strike, ‘most historic church’ targeted so far

A 400-year-old Bernardine monastery and UNESCO World Heritage site in “the heart of Ukraine’s Catholic region” will require significant repairs following Russian attacks.

“This happens a lot,” Steven Moore, executive producer of the war documentary “A Faith Under Siege,” told “EWTN News Nightly” on March 25, live from Kyiv. 

Russia carried out missile strikes on March 24 that hit the UNESCO-protected Bernardine Monastery and its St. Andrew’s Church.

Moore said Russia’s targeting of Christian churches — even Orthodox ones — in Ukraine is a regular occurrence. St. Andrew’s, a Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, “is probably the most historic church they have targeted so far,” he said.

Moore described Russia’s targeting of churches as part of the Kremlin’s “holy war,” noting that the Russian Orthodox Church and its Patriarch Kirill of Moscow act as an extension of the Kremlin.

“Patriarch Kirill, their version of the pope, has said, ‘If you die fighting in Ukraine, all your sins will be washed away,’” he said, adding that Russian President Vladimir Putin has described the Russian Orthodox Church as having more in common with Islam than Catholicism.

Intersection of Ukraine and Iran wars

Moore said there are concerns the war involving Iran will drive up the price of oil, leaving Russia — “a gas station with an army” — with an increased revenue stream that Putin may in turn use against Ukrainians.

“We’re in a mess as a world right now,” he said, citing the war in the Middle East and in Ukraine. “And you know, China is backing all of this,” he said. “North Korea is waiting to go into South Korea; there’s tens of thousands of North Korean troops fighting in Ukraine right now.”

“The good news, though, about this invasion into Iran is that the Iranians have been supplying the Russians with drones, these Shahed drones, and it will limit their ability to cooperate with the Russians in the future,” he said.

Shahed drones are Iranian-developed unmanned combat aerial vehicles.

Ukrainians have sent drone experts to help Middle Eastern nations to cope with these Russian drone attacks. “American weapons are built with an innovation cycle of months or years. Here in Ukraine, the innovation cycle is days or weeks. And they’ve been fighting against the same weapons in Ukraine that Russia has sent to Iran,” Moore said. “No one in the world right now is as good at drone warfare and anti-drone warfare as the Ukrainians.”

Moore further noted the Trump administration’s toppling of the Venezuelan regime, a Russian ally, as well as Syria. 

“When we’re looking at a global war, taking pieces off the board for the bad guys is a really positive thing in the long run,” he said.