Ukraine: Seven of the country's most important mosques
It might not be a widely known part of Ukraine's rich history but at one point there were nearly 1,500 mosques in the former Soviet country. That number has declined, but there are still some outstanding mosques, both old and new, that have withstood a century of war, upheaval and religious persecution.
Islam was formally introduced to Ukraine when its Mongol rulers, known as the Golden Horde, converted to Islam in the early 14th century. The fragmentation of the Horde in the late 15th century gave rise to the Crimean Khanate, a state ruled by the Tatar descendants of the Mongols.
Initially independent, the khanate first came under the sway of the Ottoman Empire before being annexed by Imperial Russia.
After their incorporation into the Russian Empire, Muslim communities in Crimea began moving out to other parts of Ukraine, mainly to southern and eastern cities, like Donetsk and Luhansk, but also to Kharkiv – today at the centre of the war launched by Russia – where Tatars settled as early as the 1840s.