DONETSK REGION — The Russian Orthodox Church sent a fragment of the right hand of Grand Prince Dmitry Donskoy to Russian troops in Ukraine. The relic was first brought to the Savur-Mohyla war memorial in the Russian-occupied Donetsk region of Ukraine on a Tuesday.

Senior Orthodox clergy held a prayer service at the memorial alongside representatives of the Russian military. Sergei Kiriyenko, Putin's first deputy Kremlin chief of staff, joined military commanders and the Russian-installed regional head in kissing the relic and making the sign of the cross at a ceremony in Donetsk.

The Russian Orthodox Church stated the relic would "spiritually strengthen" soldiers and help them achieve victory. "A fragment of the Grand Prince’s right hand – the very same right hand with which he wielded his sword on Kulikovo Field – has been sent to the front to strengthen the soldiers’ spirits." The relic was transported in a reliquary described as a small ornate casket beneath toughened glass.

Metropolitan Vladimir of Donetsk and Mariupol said the relic's presence would help soldiers and civilians "mobilise their strength" and secure victory over the enemy. "Both our military personnel and the people who live in Donbas need strengthening from above, need God's help and the blessing of our saints," Metropolitan Vladimir said.

Dmitry Donskoy was a 14th-century prince who died in 1389. He is revered in Russia for his victory over the Mongolian Golden Horde at the Battle of Kulikovo in 1380. The Russian Orthodox Church canonized Dmitry Donskoy as a saint in 1988.

Donskoy’s relics were uncovered during restoration work at the Cathedral of the Archangel inside the Kremlin. Vladimir Putin personally attended the ceremony marking the unearthing of Donskoy’s remains. Putin inspected the remains in August and described them as "an absolutely unique and marvelous discovery" which reinforced the foundations of Russian history.

The relic of Dmitry Donskoy is scheduled to be displayed among Russian combat units along the more than 1,000-km front line. Donskoy's relics were carried through the streets of Moscow at the weekend in a huge Orthodox procession. Dmitry Donskoy's name was given to a Soviet tank column funded by the church in World War Two.

In 2026, the Russian Orthodox Church sent a fragment of Alexander Nevsky’s relics to the front lines earlier in the year, indicating a pattern of using saints’ remains to support military efforts in the war in Ukraine. During the early 1700s, Peter the Great exhumed the remains of Alexander Nevsky, another revered medieval warrior prince, from a church in Vladimir and brought them to St. Petersburg, demonstrating a historical precedent for using relics to bolster national identity and military morale. In 1700, Peter the Great unearthed the remains of Aleksandr Nevsky, a warrior prince who had battled the Swedes centuries earlier, from a church in Vladimir, outside Moscow, and brought them to the newly built city of St. Petersburg.

Zanemonets, an Orthodox priest and historian based outside Russia, wrote that the church leadership in Moscow began to wonder what else it could do to show its support for what Russia terms its ‘special military operation’. "It had already sent priests to the front lines, instituted mandatory prayers for Russian victory in every church, and flown icons over cities," Zanemonets wrote. "A state embroiled in war will try to compel all institutions, including religious ones, to participate in it."

Why It Matters

The Russian Orthodox Church has historically played a central role in shaping national identity, with figures like Dmitry Donskoy and Alexander Nevsky being used to reinforce narratives of Russian resilience and divine favor. The Russian Orthodox Church has a long history of using religious relics and icons in military contexts, such as during the Time of Troubles (1600s) when the Our Lady of Kazan icon was credited with helping to drive out Polish forces from Moscow.

In 1988, the Russian Orthodox Church canonized Dmitry Donskoy as a saint as part of a broader wave of religious reawakening following the collapse of the Soviet Union, which marked a shift in the church's role from a persecuted institution to a state-aligned one. The Russian Orthodox Church has been criticized by some historians and religious scholars for hastily canonizing Dmitry Donskoy in 1988 without proper preparation, reflecting the rushed nature of religious revival in the late Soviet period.

What's New

The Russian Orthodox Church has institutionalized the use of religious rituals in the war, including mandatory prayers for Russian victory in every church, as part of its broader strategy to align with the state’s military objectives.

The Russian Orthodox Church has not conducted DNA analysis on the remains of Dmitry Donskoy, despite scientific confirmation of their authenticity, raising questions about the transparency of the relic’s handling.