Russian army destroys 19th-century wooden church in Donetsk region

The Department of Culture, Tourism, and Cultural Heritage Protection of the Pokrovsk City Council reported this on Facebook, according to Ukrinform.

"A unique monument of wooden ecclesiastical architecture — the Holy Ascension Church in the village of Novotroitske — has been destroyed. It was the only wooden church on a stone foundation in the Pokrovsk district of the Donetsk region that had survived nearly unchanged to this day. The church withstood the turbulent 20th century, including World War II, but sustained damage in October 2024 and was ultimately destroyed in the spring of 2025," the statement reads.

The church was built in the 1890s with funds from mining industrialist and philanthropist Yakov Drevitsky.

The Holy Ascension Church was constructed in the shape of an Orthodox cross with two symmetrical extensions on the sides of the transept. It was made of assembled wooden planks and featured intricately carved exterior panels. The centerpiece of the interior was a three-tiered iconostasis, with an icon of the Ascension of the Lord as its main shrine. The walls were horizontally clad with planks and painted green, while a white ornamental cornice ran along the perimeter. Arched windows were framed with decorative wood carvings.

In the early 20th century, there was an attempt to convert the church into a community club, but local believers managed to preserve the sacred site. During the Nazi occupation, the building was repurposed as a camp for prisoners of war.

Photo credit: Department of Culture, Tourism, and Cultural Heritage Protection of the Pokrovsk City Council