Every empire eventually becomes trapped by its own mythology. Russia’s happens to be built on a peculiar combination of holy relics, imperial nostalgia, and endless lectures about “traditional values.” The problem is that reality keeps interrupting the performance. In 2022, Margarita Simonyan (the Kremlin’s propagandist) declared that Russia would never bomb Kyiv because “our shrine is there.” The implication being: unlike everyone else, Russia supposedly possesses some special reverence for faith, history, and sacred places.JOIN US ON TELEGRAMFollow our coverage of the war on the @Kyivpost_official. Four years later, Russian missiles strike the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra. Some photographs tell an entire story. The damaged roof of the Lavra tells the story of modern Russia better than a thousand speeches about faith, civilization, or “spiritual values” ever could. The thing about Russian propaganda is that it is often not merely dishonest. It is confessional. It tells you exactly what Russia wishes the world to believe, because the reality is usually the opposite. The Lavra is not an exception. It is a case study. For years, the Kremlin has attempted to frame its war against Ukraine as a defense of Christianity itself. Russian officials, propagandists, and church leaders have repeatedly portrayed Ukraine as hostile to Orthodoxy, hostile to believers, even hostile to God. Yet wherever Russian occupation takes hold, a different reality emerges.