{"id":190424,"date":"2026-08-16T00:34:13","date_gmt":"2026-08-16T00:34:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/190424\/"},"modified":"2026-08-16T00:34:13","modified_gmt":"2026-08-16T00:34:13","slug":"zelenskyy-announces-bill-on-protection-of-national-shrines","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/190424\/","title":{"rendered":"Zelenskyy announces bill on protection of national shrines"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">A bill on Ukraine&#8217;s national shrines will be drafted by Independence Day, 24 August, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has announced.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Source: Zelenskyy speaking at a ceremony marking the 975th anniversary of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra (the Monastery of the Caves in Kyiv) on 15 August, as reported by <a data-ylk=\"slk:Interfax-Ukraine;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas;\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;link&quot;,&quot;yLinkElementType&quot;:&quot;article_link&quot;}\" href=\"https:\/\/interfax.com.ua\/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">Interfax-Ukraine<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Quote: &#8220;Today I signed a decree on measures at the state level to protect Ukraine&#8217;s national shrines. A law on our Ukrainian national shrines will be prepared by Ukraine&#8217;s Independence Day.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Details: Zelenskyy said he had discussed the matter with Parliament Speaker Ruslan Stefanchuk.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">&#8220;I have asked the parliament to support the law so that it clearly defines what our shrines are and what steps are needed to protect our shrines throughout our country,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Zelenskyy also stressed that the status of Ukrainian national shrine, which will be enshrined in the law, should provide greater opportunities for everyone working to protect Ukraine&#8217;s heritage.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">He said this will also mean improvements in working conditions, funding, and political and legal capabilities to protect Ukrainian shrines, museum collections and Ukrainian heritage as a whole.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Zelenskyy also called for international efforts to be stepped up to protect Ukraine&#8217;s cultural and spiritual heritage from Russian aggression.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">&#8220;You would have to be utterly worthless and utterly stupid to strike the Lavra. But Russia did it,&#8221; Zelenskyy said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">He urged state institutions to adopt a &#8220;new approach&#8221; to preserving cultural heritage, including seeking out international resources and funding more actively.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">On 15 August, the Feast of the Dormition of the Mother of God, Kyiv hosted a ceremonial state-and-church event to mark the 975th anniversary of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The event was attended by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy; Tetiana Berezhna, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Culture; UNESCO Director-General Khaled El-Enany; Chiara Dezzi Bardeschi, UNESCO Representative in Ukraine; Jacques Gerber, Swiss Federal Council Commissioner for Ukraine; Epiphanius, Metropolitan of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine; and other government, diplomatic and church representatives.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">An official handover of documents took place between the Swiss Federal Council commissioner and the UNESCO director-general, with Berezhna and Maksym Ostapenko, Director General of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra National Preserve, also present.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">An anniversary exhibition was also opened, featuring the presentation of a new Book of Guardians and Benefactors of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra. Zelenskyy made the first entry in the book, symbolically opening a contemporary chronicle of benefaction as preparations begin for the Lavra&#8217;s 1,000th anniversary.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Support Ukrainska Pravda on <a data-ylk=\"slk:Patreon;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas;\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;link&quot;,&quot;yLinkElementType&quot;:&quot;article_link&quot;}\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patreon.com\/pravdaua\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">Patreon<\/a> to help us keep reporting!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A bill on Ukraine&#8217;s national shrines will be drafted by Independence Day, 24 August, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":190425,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[130],"tags":[20935,58365,85367,58366,85368,330,85369,325],"class_list":["post-190424","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-volodymyr-zelenskyy","tag-independence-day","tag-kyiv-pechersk-lavra","tag-national-shrines","tag-orthodox-church-of-ukraine","tag-swiss-federal-council","tag-ukraine","tag-ukrainian-national","tag-volodymyr-zelenskyy"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@people\/117102383160341564","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/190424","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=190424"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/190424\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/190425"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=190424"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=190424"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=190424"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}