Video of raiding UOC church in Ladyzhyn & beating defenders appears online

OCU raiders storming the Church of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God in Ladyzhyn. Photo: a screenshot of a surveillance video

The UOJ has at its disposal a video of the storming of the Kazan Church of the UOC in Ladyzhyn, Vinnytsia region, which took place on 9 January 2024. The video was filmed by a surveillance camera operating opposite the door where the OCU raiders broke in.

The footage shows the raiders using forklift forks to break down the door leading to the sexton’s room and rush in. A few seconds later they started throwing people who were inside the church – parishioners and the rector – into the street. They dragged the believers down the steps, threw them to the ground and then chased them outside the temple grounds, pushing, hitting, and breaking their arms. Archpriest Yevheny Vorobyov's face was covered in blood. Following the men, women parishioners were taken out of the church.

Then the raiders were looking ground the temple, at the command of their leader they searched the courtyard and then took a smoke break. They smoked not only outside the church but also inside - in the sexton’s room adjacent to the altar.

As reported, law enforcers opened criminal proceedings under the article ‘arbitrariness’ on the fact of forceful seizure of the Kazan Church in Ladyzhyn.

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