September 06, 2026

Dmitry Donskoy Returns to War


Dmitry Donskoy Returns to War
The remains of Dmitri Donskoy. Russian state media outlet TASS.

The newest draftee into Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine is none other than the fourteenth-century Muscovite prince Dmitri Donskoy, now a Russian Orthodox saint.

In August, renovators working in the Kremlin's Archangel Cathedral discovered the remains of the prince beneath the floor, in an unexpected area. The head of the Russian Orthodox Church asserted that the discovery was "a sign of Divine Providence," even as independent outlets were skeptical of the serendipity.

By early September, the Kremlin had announced that relics from the body would be sent to shore up morale on the front lines in Ukraine, and would take part in a procession through Moscow Sept. 6.

Donskoy is one of Russia's key prince-saints, a leader of Moscow who ruled from 1359 to 1389. He earned his epithet "Donskoy," or "of the Don," for defeating a Mongol army at the Battle of Kulikovo Field, which was fought on the banks of that river. The battle is widely regarded as one of the turning points after which Mongol supremacy over Russia began to wane.

By sending Donskoy to the front, the Russian state is not only leveraging his historical reputation as a great warrior; the Kremlin is also acting at the intersection of religious devotion, historical memory, and military strategy, as Russia edges ever closer to five years of war.

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