In Ukraine, Muslim citizens represent about 1 percent of the population, and most of them, at least until 2014, lived in Crimea and the Donbas region. With the Russian occupation of Crimea and the conflict in the east, thousands of people moved to other parts of the country, until the large-scale invasion on February 24, 2022, marked a new phase of internal displacement. According to the last census conducted in the country in 2001, there were 436,000 Muslims in Ukraine, and the largest community was that of the Tatars (248,000), followed by Azerbaijanis, Uzbeks, Turks, and other groups originating from the North Caucasus. According to a study conducted by Akif Tahiiev, a researcher at the Goethe Institute in Islamic Studies, Culture, and Religion, the distribution of Muslims in Ukraine reflected, up until 11 years ago, the historical patterns of settlement and migration, with Crimea representing the heart of local Islam, along with smaller communities in Donetsk, Kharkiv, Luhansk, Dnipro, Kherson, Odesa, and Zaporizhzhia.
The Tartars, the most numerous community
The identity of the Tatars took shape during the Crimean Khanate, which, under Ottoman protection from the 15th to the 18th century, was one of the major powers of Eastern Europe. Following the Russo-Turkish War of 1768–1774, Crimea was annexed to the Russian Empire in 1783. From that point, the first mass exodus of Turkic-speaking Muslims began, and it is estimated that around one million people left the peninsula to settle in Anatolia. In 1944, accused of collaborating with the Germans, at least 200,000 Tatars were deported from Crimea, where in the meantime all historical and cultural traces of this minority were systematically erased—whether they were mosques, schools, or libraries. Subjected for the following decades to intense hate propaganda, the Tatars only saw their rights recognized—to use their language, to have political representation, and to access education—after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
“Muslims have lived in this territory since the 8th century, because merchants from Asia came here from Tatarstan and decided to stay,” explains Yuliya Noha, representative of the Islamic Department for Media, whom we meet at the Al Rahma Mosque in Kyiv. “What is today Ukrainian land has been enriched by cultural exchanges throughout history and has progressed thanks to them. This place, where our mosque now stands, is known as Tatarka, the land of the Tatars, and it was here that the first official Muslim congregation was formed after the end of the USSR. I myself remember the collapse of the Soviet Union—I was a child, but I could sense the changing atmosphere: people began to gather, to share common spaces for prayer, to celebrate the end of Ramadan, to study the Qur’an.”
The foundation stone of the Al Rahma Mosque—which means “mercy”—was laid in 1994, but construction proceeded in stages, thanks to donations from the community, and it was only completed and officially opened in 2011. Today it can host up to 3,000 people. The Muslim Congregation was established in Ukraine in 1991 around the figure of Imam Sheikh Ahmed Tamim, originally from Lebanon but a resident here for 43 years, now a Ukrainian citizen in every respect.
In the 1990s, immediately after independence, Ukraine experienced immigration from citizens— including Muslims—coming from other former Soviet republics, from Southeast Asia, and from the Middle East, who arrived in the country for work and later for family reunification. The history of the country therefore has a multi-ethnic component that has shaped its birth and its economic and social development.
2014 and the conflict in the East
In 2014, Russia’s annexation of Crimea and Moscow’s military intervention in the East alongside separatists led to the internal displacement of at least one and a half million people. The number has not remained constant, as over the years some original residents have returned to their places of residence. Those who left permanently were the Crimean Tatars—about 50,000 people—who moved to other parts of the country or abroad.
2022 and the large-scale invasion
According to data from the 2023 Report on International Religious Freedom, the number of Muslim citizens in Ukraine grew from about 450,000 in the early 2000s to roughly one million at the beginning of 2022, the year of the Russian invasion.
Since then, that number has begun to decline in line with migration figures caused by the conflict, which has driven a total of seven million people out of the country.
With a current population estimated between 500,000 and 600,000 practicing Muslims, Islam today remains the second largest religion in the country after Christianity (Orthodox, Catholic, and Protestant), even though the war has once again redrawn Ukraine’s demographic map.
While around 50 percent of the Muslim population once lived in Crimea, 30 percent in Kyiv and eastern Ukraine (Kharkiv, Donetsk, and Luhansk), and 20 percent in the rest of the country, in the past three years there has been a shift from occupied territories and front-line regions toward the western areas, particularly around Lviv. Donetsk and Luhansk had three Shiite religious centers, which have been closed and abandoned since the war began, and even in Crimea, the main Sunni Islamic sites have been lost.
“The presence of Muslim communities,” says Noha, “has always enriched the country in many ways, not just in terms of religious pluralism. Of course, the internal displacements caused by the war have reshaped Ukraine’s demographics—and not only for Muslims. But adaptability is part of our multi-ethnic history, because we have citizens born abroad, in countries like Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, and Turkey, who came to live here and are now second-generation Ukrainians. We are all Ukrainians, without distinction, and we face today’s challenges together, focusing above all on humanitarian work.”
With the start of the war, the Al Rahma Mosque adapted to new needs—not only those of Kyiv’s Muslim community, but also of displaced people from the capital and from other regions such as Kherson.
“This has always been a welcoming place for everyone—comfortable for prayer, study, and gathering,” Noha continues. “There’s a space dedicated to women, with prayer garments available, books to consult, and facilities for bringing children. We’re also creating a small museum on the history of Islam in Ukraine, which will display texts and artefacts. But when the war began, it was a shock for everyone—people were terrified and didn’t know what to expect. At that point, the mosque became a shelter for all those who didn’t feel safe in their homes here in the city, and especially for the displaced from the most affected areas. For over two months, dozens upon dozens of people slept here, and the doors were always open—Muslims and non-Muslims alike. The basement rooms were set up as dormitories. During the first weeks, food was scarce, supermarkets were being emptied in a wave of uncertainty. It was impossible to imagine how the situation would develop, but over time, once it became clear that it wouldn’t be over in days or months, we organized ourselves to keep providing help.”
Today, the mosque has resumed children’s classes and normal activities, but it continues to serve as a coordination centre for aid distribution.
“Our volunteer network is constantly working to deliver food packages to the most vulnerable,” says Noha. “We’ve also started welcoming visitors again from all over the world—from Europe, America, Japan, and Africa. On Fridays, many soldiers come to pray when they are on leave from the front; sadly, we have also held several funerals for young soldiers who died in the war.
The war, unfortunately, goes on—and not only at the front. Even in Kyiv, we continue to suffer many drone attacks; one recently happened just fifty meters from my home. And that’s precisely why we must keep spreading a message of hope and peace, and distance ourselves from all forms of extremism and violence—as our spiritual leader, Sheikh Ahmed Tamim, has always done.”
Cover photo: Muslims pray at the Ar-Rahma Mosque at the beginning of the Eid al-Adha celebration in Kyiv, Ukraine, on June 6, 2025. (Photo by DANYLO ANTONIUK / NurPhoto via AFP)
