Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Kyselivka, Mykolayiv oblast

Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary
General information
Building type	church
Location	Kyselivka, Mykolaiv Oblast
Religious affiliation*	Catholicism (RCCiU)
Date of damage	2 May 2022
Damage degree	complete destruction
	*as for moment of shelling

The Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, located in the village of Kiselyvka, near Mykolaiv, was damaged as early as March 2022, as it was under fire from Russian troops. However, the exact dates of these attacks are unknown. According to the parish rector, Fr. Oleksandr Repin TChr, who took care of the community in Kiselivka, the church was right on the front line and was destroyed by shelling on May 2, 2022. The church was first shelled, and a few days later it was hit by missiles; as a result of which it caught fire and burned completely. Details of the tragic events that led to the destruction of the church are provided on the website of the Roman Catholic Church in Ukraine with links to eyewitness accounts. "In March, Russian soldiers started shelling the tower of the church from a tank in order to knock down the cross. There were many hits, but the cross still stood there. According to witnesses, the cross fell for the fifth time. At night, there was a fire in the temple, everything inside burned down. Then began shelling from various types of artillery, shelling with cluster missiles". Only after the de-occupation of the region and the cessation of active hostilities on November 12, 2022, did the priest and the nuns manage to visit the ruins of the church. And although some liturgical objects managed to be preserved, the ancient icons of the Mother of God are lost. The church in the village of Kiselyvka (which was then called Poliatske, because immigrants from Poland lived there, and was renamed in the USSR) was built in 1852. During the Soviet rule, the church was used for administrative needs, as a warehouse and later as a place for repairing tractors. In 1990, the church was returned to the community.