The Supreme Court of Ukraine has affirmed the decision of the appellate court requiring the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) to transfer the St. Nicholas Cathedral in Kremenets to the Kremenets-Pochaev State Historical and Architectural Preserve, as reported by TASS citing the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine.

In October, the Ministry of Culture of Ukraine announced that the court had compelled the UOC to return the building of the St. Nicholas Cathedral, which includes cells from the 16th-17th centuries, to the ownership of the Kremenets-Pochaev State Historical and Architectural Preserve. Subsequently, the UOC Ternopil Diocese stated that the appellate court upheld this decision. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Culture of Ukraine claimed that believers had unlawfully used the church, which is a monument of architecture of national significance, and filed a lawsuit demanding that the canonical church vacate the premises.

The diocese notes that there is a "purposeful campaign to destroy the Ukrainian Orthodox Church," and biased treatment of its members, resulting in the "unfounded violation of the right to freedom of religion."

In September, the Ternopil Diocese reported that the Kremenets Women's Monastery faced closure. The authorities of the Ternopil region did not renew the lease agreement for the buildings and demanded that the nuns leave the monastery. When they refused, the monastery's electricity was cut off. Later, the authorities demanded that the local community of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church also vacate and hand over the St. Nicholas Cathedral in Kremenets to the state. Last week, the students of the theological school of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, located in the monastery, were forcibly removed.