OCU "priest" explains why soldiers were convinced to fire at UOC church

Ruins of the Annunciation Church of the UOC. Photo: Bahmut in UA

Serhiy Dmytriev, Deputy Head of the OCU's Social Services and Charity Department, stated in an interview with Livyi Bereh that the reluctance to fire on an Orthodox church is merely a "prejudice." He also described how one of the "priests" of their structure persuaded soldiers to fire at the church.

According to Dmytriev, during the 30th Brigade's liberation of Kharkiv region, Russian forces took up position in an Orthodox church (apparently a UOC church, as noted by the editorial team).

"The mortar battery didn’t want to fire at the church. Then the chaplain, the priest, said that if Ukrainians were being killed from this church, it was no longer a church, just a building. The church is the people. And so, we advanced. By the way, it wasn’t an architectural monument; it was a new structure. What’s important is that this was said by the priest, because the soldiers wouldn’t listen to their commander," Dmytriev explained.

Earlier, the UOJ reported that Serhiy Dmytriev remained silent regarding a journalist's blasphemous remarks about Holy Communion.

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