The story of 17-year-old Erik is the first case of religious persecution documented by Save Ukraine. Erik grew up in the family of a priest; he himself became a choir minister and a novice preacher in the surrounding villages. His father served in another church, in their community. Both communities faced repression. 

With the arrival of the occupation, the Russians began methodically destroying the city’s religious life. The first to suffer was the church: the occupiers seized the building and immediately demonstrated what their “respect” for faith was truly worth — they sawed the cross off the façade, painted the walls with the faces of criminals and rapists, their own military commanders, the so-called “heroes of the special military operation.” The Russians then removed every Bible from the church — and burned everything connected to Christ. Later, the occupiers fenced off Erik’s church building entirely and converted it into a military police precinct — a place now used to interrogate and intimidate the city’s residents. A torture chamber — within the walls of a former house of prayer. 

Even before this, armed Russians in masks would enter Erik’s church during Sunday services and halt the worship mid-service, conducting searches, breaking locks, and stealing equipment and technical devices. They repeatedly organized mass interrogations of parishioners: people were separated into different rooms while their phones were examined. Erik himself was also stopped on the street. 

“When I answered that I was a believer and was on my way to church, they would take me to the commandant’s office,” the young man recalls. 

Erik had no intention of abandoning his congregation — there were critically few priests left. But at 17 years old, he was handed a combat summons demanding that he join the ranks of the Russian army. He refused — on grounds of religious conviction, citing the Bible. That same day, Erik contacted Save Ukraine for help and left his home city.