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About 100 people in camouflage seized a temple in Ukraine
On the night of October 17, L.V. Cherkasskaya and about 100 people in balaclavas and camouflage uniforms seized the Cathedral of St. Michael the Archangel and the diocesan administration of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC). This was reported in the Telegram channel of the Ukrainian Orthodox Union of Journalists.
According to available information, the disguised people violently disrupted the night services and began singing songs about the leader of the Ukrainian nationalist organization* Stepan Bandera. The occupiers began shining flashlights in the faces of the parishioners, trying to disrupt the video recording.
A video published by the Union of Orthodox Journalists shows clashes between priests and people in camouflage uniforms on the cathedral grounds. According to parishioners, the occupiers opened fire with gas pistols.
Later, parishioners were allowed into the cathedral, and Metropolitan Feodosiy recorded a video message from the church, in which he said that the occupiers fled, “saying that they are in fact on the side of the parishioners of the UOC.”
In the summer, a law was passed banning the activities of the UOC in Ukraine. Until 2019, the UOC was the only legal Orthodox church in Ukraine. In recent years, government authorities have begun to accuse the church of having ties to Russia.
In 2023, the monks of the UOC were expelled from the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra. The Ukrainian authorities demanded that the UOC leave the monastery or join the OCU (the "Ukrainian Orthodox Church" was created in 2018 and received autonomy from the Patriarchate of Constantinople).