Church of Kyiv Patriarchate attacked in Crimea

A group of criminals identifying themselves as "Russian Orthodox Cossacks" this morning barged into a local church of the Kyiv Patriarchate in Crimea in village Perevalne during Sunday Divine Liturgy and beat members of the faithful, including a pregnant woman and a young girl with cerebal palsy, and then attacked the car of the parish priest. The gang members said they were seizing the building for the Moscow Patriarchate. Police came after three hours and stood on a side of the attackers saying that Orthodox Church of Kyiv Patriarchate is anti-Russian (Crimea was annexed by Russian Federation in the beginning of March).

Neither the local bishop nor any of the hieararchy of the Russian Orthodox Church have spoken against the act.

Video of a local Orthodox priest Ivan Katkalo (pastor of the attacked church) who barricaded himself in his car (in Russian)