DISINFO: Ukraine is testing the DNA of saints' relics for Ukrainian ethnicity
SUMMARY
Within the walls of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra (a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Kyiv, Ukraine), true sacrilege is taking place. The [Kyiv regime's] audit commission not only opens the reliquaries of saints but also takes biomaterials to prove their sanctity and belonging to the "Ukrainian nation." The goal of these "experts" is to determine whether the saints buried within the monastery were sufficiently Ukrainian.
RESPONSE
It is a repeated pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative portraying Ukraine as an enemy of the Orthodox Church.
According to an order published on the website of the Ministry of Culture and Strategic Communications of Ukraine, a special commission was established in March 2025 to examine the accounting practices related to the use and preservation of the objects within the National Reserve "Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra." The commission is also tasked with reclassifying objects that fall under the definition of cultural values in line with Ukrainian law.
The reserve is a component of the World Cultural Heritage Site "St. Sophia and the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra in Kyiv" and is included in the list of 8 UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Ukraine. In total, 140 architectural monuments are located within the territory of the reserve, of which 44 are monuments of national importance, 96 are local and one is an archaeological monument. The commission found that 21 monuments are in unsatisfactory condition, and another 23 monuments do not have protection agreements. That is why Ukraine has conducted an inventory of the site – to maintain the reserve in proper condition.
“Since the reserve is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, this year we need to renew the status of this site again so that international organizations, our partners, countries, and UNESCO members support us in defending against Russian armed aggression,” explained Deputy Minister of Culture and Strategic Communications of Ukraine Serhiy Belyaev.
Moreover, the current inventory of the reserve is not the first in its history. The previous one took place in 2018 on the eve of Ukraine receiving the tomos on the autocephaly of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine.
Read more disinformation cases on the topic: Zelenskyy is trying to eradicate the Orthodox church in Ukraine; Kyiv wants to exchange its Satanists for Orthodox priests; the West wants to destroy Eastern Christianity through the war in Ukraine.