The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Ukraine.

The first missionaries to enter Ukraine were Elders Ivan Stratov and Brian Bradbury, both were transferred from the Finland Helsinki East Mission. They were accompanied by President Dennis B. Neuenschwander of the Austria Vienna East Mission. They arrived in Kyiv on 7 October 1990 with a list of Ukrainian referrals. They quickly made enough contacts to gather 17 people for a fireside held in the Writers' Union Hall, where the first sacrament meetings were later held.

Introduced in 1991, the Church grew steadily in Ukraine, reaching a milestone on May 30, 2004, when Elder Russell M. Nelson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles organized the first stake of seven wards in Kyiv. Elder Nelson blessed members to love their neighbors as Christ that many more stakes might be organized. He also encouraged them in their family history work in preparation for the temple.

The Kiev (Ukraine) Temple was the first temple built in the former Soviet Union. Two pictures of this Temple are below.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. 

The Mormon Church in Kyiv is the 134th temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in the world by its order of construction and it is the third church by its dimensions. Kyiv Ukrainian church is the first religious building of the Mormons in Eastern Europe. Construction began on June 23, 2007. The temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (LDS) was to be dedicated on August 29, 2010. There is golden figure mounted on the cone top of the building (height 42 meters). This is the figure of the angel Moroni, who preaches the message of the Gospel throughout the world. There are 11 thousand Ukrainian parishioners of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS church). 

This is model made by Chigirinsky.

On 1 July 1993 was created the Ukraine Donetsk Mission under President Leo Merrill.

The building of Saltovka Chapel in Donetsk.

In 1843, just 13 years after the Church's organization, Church President Joseph Smith called two men to preach in Russia.

In 1843, just 13 years after the Church's organization, Church President Joseph Smith called two men to preach in Russia. This assignment was canceled after the martyrdom of Joseph Smith in 1844. In 1895, a native of Sweden was sent to St. Petersburg, where he baptized the Johan M. Lindelof family. The family was occasionally visited by Church leaders in the early 1900s. In 1959, Ezra Taft Benson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, simultaneously serving as United States Secretary of Agriculture, visited the Central Baptist Church in Moscow and preached to an attentive congregation.

In September 1989, Church leaders authorized a United States Embassy worker, Alan Evenson, in Moscow to begin holding group meetings in his apartment in Moscow.

The picture of US Embassy building in Moscow is above.

Four months later, in January 1990, missionaries arrived in Leningrad.

The first convert they baptized also became the first full-time missionary from Russia, who served in the Utah Ogden Mission. In February 1990, a congregation was organized in Vyborg. By mid-summer 1990, the Leningrad congregation, created in December 1989, had 100 members, and the Vyborg congregation had 25 members. In September, the St. Petersburg congregation was recognized by the government and in October a religious freedom law was passed. With membership in Russia at 750 in February 1992, two other Russian missions were organized.

Missionaries began serving in Moscow in October 1990. In May 1991 the

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Russian Religious Association was registered, providing legal recognition for the Church throughout Russia.

When the Finland Helsinki East Mission became the Russia St. Petersburg and Russia Moscow Missions in February 1992, membership totaled 433, with 27 missionaries in St. Petersburg and Vyborg. In Moscow and neighboring Zelenograd, 24 missionaries served with 186 members.

This is a photo of banner above the entrance to the Moscow mission.

Soon additional Russian missions were created: Russia Samara in July 1993, Russia Rostov-on-the-Don and Russia Novosibirsk in July 1994, Russia Yekaterinburg in July 1995, and Russia Moscow South in July 1997, making a total of seven missions. In the year 2000 the Church in Russia embraced more than 11,092 members and more than 650 missionaries.

Now Russia has 8 missions and almost 30,000 members. As Elder Schwitzer of the Europe East Area Presidency said at our Novosibirsk Zone Conference ..."we will soon see major events here that will bring about the prophesies concerning this land regarding the gathering of the Ten Tribes and the bringing of tens and hundreds of thousands into the Church".