The spokesman of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine commented the terrible murders of civilian population and clergy committed by the Russian occupiers.
Archbishop of Chernihiv and Nizhyn shared this with Radio Maria. The day before in Chernihiv, the Russian "orcs" shot 10 people who were just standing in line for bread.
The situation is dire! There are constant assaults and attacks, both from rocket artillery and from the air by aircraft," says Archbishop Yevstratiy (Zorya).
Grads were purposefully destroying urban infrastructure. There is no water, light, from time to time it is possible to repair some public utilities with heroic efforts, at least for some parts of the city, the supply of electricity and water is sometimes restored.
The invaders regularly interrupt the gas pipeline, but our repairmen are also trying to repair it.
The impression is that the invaders were given the task of persuading the will of the defenders and residents of the city and that they finally surrendered to the enemy! But, this is not to happen! The Armed Forces of Ukraine are performing their task well," Archbishop Yevstratiy Zorya emphasized.
He said that starting February 24, the OCU lost several priests, who were killed by enemy bullets. There are also those with whom communication is lost.
"The ones we know are only confirmed clergymen. So we can say with sadness that three pastors were killed: Fr Maksym Kozachyna, who was shot in Ivankiv literally in the first days of the invasion, Fr Rostislav Dudarenko died at a checkpoint in Yasnohorodka, and also, chaplain, Fr Platon Morgunov, who was killed in Volnovakha.
From the first days of a large-scale war, Fr Vasily Vyrozub from Odesa was taken prisoner while being on a mission on the civilian ship Saphir to the island of Zmeiny to pick up the bodies of the dead pro-border guards, and there the ship was captured by the Russians near the island! To date, he has been held captive in Crimea together with the team.
Fr Oleg Nikolayev was also detained in Berdyansk, and Russians came to him in the morning. However, later we received information that he was fired.
There is no communication with ten other priests, including Bishop Vsevolod Matviyevsky from Slovyansk. He lived near Volnovakha and served in a local church.
In addition, in my Diocese of Chernihiv and Nizhyn, a number of priests have not been seen for a long time and do not appear on social networks," said Archbishop Yevstratiy (Zorya).