Larisa Kozova11:21, 04.08.26

This church was one of the oldest wooden temples in the south of the country.

In the Kherson region, Russian occupiers used drones with an incendiary mixture to destroy the building of the Holy Presentation Church – an architectural monument of national importance.

As reported by the press service of the Kherson Regional Prosecutor’s Office, an investigation has been launched into the destruction of a unique temple built without a single nail almost 300 years ago.

According to the investigation, on August 1, 2026, at around 6:00 PM, Russian military personnel attacked the city of Berislav with three unmanned aerial vehicles carrying an incendiary mixture.

As a result of the strikes, the building of the Holy Presentation Church – an architectural monument of national importance – was destroyed.

“The temple is a unique monument of Ukrainian sacral architecture of the 18th century. It was built in 1725 from oak without the use of metal nails. In 1782, the Cossacks transported the church across the Dnieper from the Perevolochny Fortress in the Poltava Region to Beryslav,” the prosecutor’s office said.

The press service notes that the Holy Presentation Church was one of the oldest wooden churches in southern Ukraine and a model of traditional Ukrainian religious construction. It survived centuries of historical trials and has survived to this day, but was destroyed as a result of a Russian attack.

Currently, prosecutors, together with investigators, are carrying out the necessary investigative and procedural actions to document the war crime and establish all the circumstances of the incident. An investigation into the commission of a war crime has been launched (Part 1 of Article 438 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).

(C)UNIAN 2026