Zelensky discusses strike on Lavra with Patriarch Bartholomew
Volodymyr Zelensky. Photo: Office of the President of Ukraine
On June 15, 2026, Volodymyr Zelensky held a phone conversation with Constantinople Patriarch Bartholomew on his way to the G7 summit. As reported by the OP press service, the head of state thanked the head of the Phanar for his support and his “clear moral position” regarding the strikes on the Kyiv Pechersk Monastery.
The parties acknowledged that the drone attack on a shrine belonging not only to Ukraine but to world Orthodoxy as a whole constitutes an act of barbarism, and discussed possible formats for arranging in-person meetings in the future. The President also officially invited the Ecumenical Patriarch to visit Ukraine and thanked him for his prayers for the country and its people.
It should be recalled that earlier the same day it became known that the Dormition Cathedral of the Lavra had sustained serious damage, where a fire broke out as a result of the nighttime shelling. The UOC emphasized that such strikes on places of prayer had crossed all moral boundaries.
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