29-05-2025
Journalists identify collaborators involved in religious persecution in occupied Melitopol
Investigative journalists from The Kyiv Independent have identified collaborators responsible for religious persecution in the temporarily occupied part of Zaporizhzhia Oblast, particularly in the city of Melitopol.
Source: investigative documentary No God but Theirs
Details: The journalists contacted a man currently heading the Department for Work with Religious Organisations under the Russian occupation's military-civil administration in Zaporizhzhia Oblast. His name is Artem Sharlai.
He is responsible for suppressing Ukrainian churches in the occupied city of Melitopol. Originally from Zaporizhzhia, Sharlai has espoused pro-Russian views since the early 2000s. During the Revolution of Dignity, he took part in the local Anti-Maidan movement and later joined the illegal armed formations of the so-called Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) at the onset of the Russo-Ukrainian war. He disappeared from the public eye for some time, returning in 2022 to launch a campaign against so-called "sects" in the occupied territory.
Sharlai told journalists about his colleagues: Andrii Zinchenko, Viacheslav Lytvynenko and Oleksandr Danylov. The latter, even before the annexation of Crimea, held mid-level administrative posts and openly promoted pro-Russian rhetoric.
After the start of the full-scale invasion, Danylov moved to Melitopol and now heads the Department for Internal Policy in the occupation administration.
Yevhen Balytskyi, a former member of the Ukrainian parliament who sided with Russia after the full-scale invasion began, signed decrees banning churches. These orders also stripped them of all movable and immovable property.
As head of the occupation administration, Balytskyi is the key figure coordinating the persecution of Ukrainian churches in Melitopol.
Now, the seized church buildings are used by Russian occupation authorities. The former premises of the New Generation church host the so-called Ministry of Youth of Zaporizhzhia Oblast; the Grace church now houses the Ministry of Culture; and the Word of Life church building has been handed over to a department of the so-called Ministry of Internal Affairs.
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