“St. Sophia of Kyiv reported pressure, and the director of the Kyiv Cave Monastery Reserve was fired without warning
22 May 2025 13:09
Former head of the Kyiv Cave Monastery National Reserve Maksym Ostapenko posted on Facebook that he had resigned from his post, Komersant Ukrainskyі reports 
He points out that the staff of the reserve has been under pressure in recent weeks, and the dismissal took place without explanation and without warning.
“This day was supposed to be different.
While we were preparing a large-scale exhibition in the Lavra, I received news that was a surprise – by order of the I hope that tomorrow I will at least get an explanation for myself and the team of what is happening,” Ostapenko said in a post.
Under pressure from the Ministry of Culture
The staff of the National Conservation Area “St. Sophia of Kyiv” also publicly stated about the pressure from the Ministry of Culture the day before.
Employees of the reserve spoke about the flurry of inspections that the Ministry of Culture appoints one after another at St. Sophia of Kyiv, the suspension of Director Nelia Kukovalska, and called on President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to respond to the pressure and extend the contract with the current director general of the reserve.
“The internal evil is working”
Reacting to Maksym Ostapenko’s announcement of his unexpected release, well-known Ukrainian journalist and TV presenter Vitaliy Gaidukevych called it “internal evil.”
“The white-coated brethren were cringing when I spoke of internal evil, which in many ways is more dangerous than the predictable and obvious external one. Well, here’s another proof that internal evil is working. wrote in a post on Facebook.
As Komersant Ukrainskyі wrote
