Russia destroys Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Donetsk Oblast with incendiary drone — protected site under Geneva Convention

May 31, 2026 - 15:10

The fire is seen at the Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the village of Zakitne, Donetsk Oblast, after a Russian drone hit it. Source: The 81st Airmobile Brigade

A Russian drone destroyed the Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the village of Zakitne, Donetsk Oblast, by dropping an incendiary munition onto its roof on 30 May, Ukraine's 81st Separate Airmobile "Slobozhansky" Brigade reported the following day.

Places of worship are protected sites under Article 53 of Additional Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions. It explicitly prohibits committing acts of hostility against historic monuments, works of art, or places of worship, using them to support military efforts, or making them the object of reprisals.

The 81st Brigade's chaplain, Father Yaroslav, had conducted services in this church before the village reached the frontline. Zakitne's parish has now been physically destroyed twice in living memory: by the Soviet anti-religious campaign of the 1930s, and by Russia in 2026.

Same weapon used on dugouts

The Russian operators used a drone-dropped incendiary munition, the same kind of weapon Russian forces typically use to target dugouts and wooden buildings, the 81st Brigade noted.

Incendiaries set the structure ablaze on contact rather than relying on blast effects, as wooden parish architecture common across Donetsk Oblast is especially vulnerable.

Chaplain who used to serve there

"I hoped that the church in the village would stand to the end and that after liberation by our soldiers, I could return there, but the Russians... God will judge them," Father Yaroslav, chaplain of the 81st Airmobile Brigade, said.

He had conducted services at the church when Zakitne was still a rear territory rather than a frontline village.

Built in 2010, after Soviets destroyed first

The current building was designed and constructed in 2009–2010 and was consecrated on 31 July 2010, the village's second attempt at a parish church, after the original was destroyed during the Soviet anti-religious campaign of the 1930s, the brigade noted.

Russia has continued patterns of religious targeting that Soviet authority pioneered: persecution of clergy and parishes in occupied territory has been documented since 2014, Euromaidan Press detailed in coverage of an early Institute for Religious Freedom report.