Moments after the band struck up a song of praise at a Christian church in a Russian-held city in occupied southern Ukraine, Russian soldiers stormed in wearing full tactical gear.
One of them wove through the crowd, mounted the stage and told the congregation to prepare their documents for inspection.
The service in September 2022 was the last held inside Melitopol’s Church of God’s Grace. The Russian authorities took over the building, adorned it with murals depicting their dead fighters, and converted it into a culture ministry.
The church’s erasure from view is part of a sweeping crackdown inside Russian-held territory on religious groups that aren’t under Moscow’s control, especially the evangelical Christian faiths the Kremlin considers instruments of U.S. influence in Ukraine.
Religion has long been central to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s campaign to halt Ukraine’s westward drift and bring it under his sway. His army is now using violent methods to roll back religious freedoms in occupied areas while bolstering the one faith that openly backs his invasion: the Russian Orthodox Church.
Evangelical pastors have suffered disproportionately. Dozens have been abducted, tortured and exiled from their hometowns, according to Ukrainian and U.S. officials and clergymen.