Kyiv's St. Nicholas Catholic church suffers damage during Russian morning attack

KYIV, Ukraine (OSV News) -- During a Dec. 20 Russian missile strike on Kyiv, Catholic St. Nicholas church, a significant architectural monument of the Ukrainian capital, suffered damage.

According to the church's rector, Father Pavlo Vyshkovsky, cited by the Religious Information Service of Ukraine, the windows in the church's towers were blown out and the stained-glass windows were shattered. The largest stained glass window, known as the "Rose," which is a traditional Gothic element above the entrance, was also damaged. However, no stucco molding was harmed.

The church's losses were part of a morning Russian attack on Kyiv, which according to Ukraine’s Air Force Command killed one person and damaged several embassies.

Ukrainian air defenses shot down all five missiles and 40 UAVs, or unmanned aerial vehicles, that Russia fired at around 7 a.m. Another 20 drones did not reach their targets, according to the command.

It's falling debris that caused damage and injuries in the city center, officials said, as cited by CNN.

Father Vyshkovsky shared with RISU that worshippers gathered to help clean up the damage, but they were awaiting a commission from the Ministry of Culture to assess the extent of the destruction.

Despite the damage, the church is still planning to hold Christmas Mass on Dec. 24 and 25, emphasizing the resilience of the community.

"This will be a demonstration of our invincibility, for no one and nothing can steal Christmas from us," Father Vyshkovsky told RISU.

St. Nicholas Church, built between 1899 and 1909 in the Neo-Gothic style by architect Vladyslav Horodetskyi, is one of two Roman Catholic churches in Kyiv built before 1917. The church has faced disrepair since 2009, and a fire in 2021 further damaged it. Although the Ministry of Culture promised to transfer the church to the local believers, this has not yet occurred as of December 2024.

Spokesman of Ukraine's foreign ministry Heorhii Tykhyi called the attack “barbaric.”

After its embassy suffered, Portugal's foreign ministry said in a statement that "it is absolutely unacceptable that any attack should target or have an impact on diplomatic premises."

"The chargé d'affaires of the Russian Embassy (in Portugal) has been summoned to the MFA so that a formal protest can be lodged with the Russian Federation," the statement added.

The embassies that suffered in the attack are of Albania, Argentina, Palestine, North Macedonia, Portugal and Montenegro, Tykhyi told a media briefing. “Windows and doors were smashed in the premises.”