Senior priest of the St. Nicholas parish, Father Pavlo Vyshkovsky, sent an official letter to the newly appointed Minister of Culture and Strategic Communications, Mykola Tochytsky, asking him to return the St. Nicholas Church in Kyiv to the parish community.

"Three years ago, on November 5, 2021, the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine (now the Ministry of Culture and Strategic Communications) signed a Memorandum of cooperation with the Kyiv parish of St. Nicholas, in which the Ministry of Culture and Strategic Communications, in particular, pledged to return the church to the parish community by June 1, 2022. Without fulfilling any of the obligations of the Memorandum, at the solemn holiday in honor of St. Nicholas, on December 6, 2023, the acting head of the Ministry of Culture and Strategic Communications publicly signed an appendix to the aforementioned Memorandum, for the second time committing to return the church to the parish community, this time by May 1, 2024," the letter addressed to the minister says.

Despite previous reminders, the memorandum, the terms of which the agency has failed to comply with twice, expires on November 5.

Father Pavlo noted that after May 1, 2024, the Ministry of Culture and Strategic Communications ignored all letters from the parish regarding the proposal to organize a working group for cooperation and resolution of organizational issues related to the process of preparation for the return of the church to the parish community.

In this regard, he asked to notify when an additional agreement to the memorandum would be concluded, and also to determine what measures the department would take to transfer the church.

The Catholic community has been fighting for over 30 years to return the church to believers and restore its full status as a parish shrine.