UGCC cleric calls protest at alleged detention site "Moscow provocation"
UGCC cleric Yustyn Boyko called protesters outside a National Guard facility near Kyiv, where mobilized men were allegedly tortured, "Moscow provocateurs."
Lviv-based Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGCC) cleric Yustyn Boyko has described protesters outside a temporary National Guard facility in Petropavlivska Borshchahivka, near Kyiv, as "Moscow provocateurs." He made the comment on his Facebook page.
During the night of November 3, Boyko shared a post by Ihor Savchuk, adding the comment "Moscow provocateurs."
Savchuk described the incident as "sabotage benefiting the enemy." According to his account, instead of a "torture basement" holding 25–40 people, only 18 people were found at the facility, most of them mobilized servicemen.
Savchuk also claimed that stains presented as "evidence of bloodshed and torture" were actually discharge from one serviceman's intestinal stoma, while another man's bruises resulted from a traffic accident.
"Personally, I see a planned information and psychological operation or a hybrid provocation," Savchuk wrote.
However, some commenters under the priest's post disputed this account. Comments pointing out that injured people had indeed been found inside the building received the most support.
"People had bruises, and four needed hospitalization – is that some kind of circus?" one user wrote.
As previously reported, about 100 people gathered outside a private house in Petropavlivska Borshchahivka, Bucha district, on November 2. Some identified themselves as relatives of the men inside and alleged that mobilized men were being beaten and tortured, that their families were being extorted for money, and that medical personnel were being denied entry. Clashes broke out outside the building.
Kyiv regional police denied reports that people were being unlawfully detained or that anyone had died.
The National Guard's 1st Azov Corps said the house served as a temporary deployment facility for military unit 3121, housing mobilized personnel and servicemen detained after going absent without leave (AWOL).
Late that evening, unidentified masked individuals attacked the protesters.
UGCC clergy, meanwhile, have officially been granted exemptions from mobilization, while the Church's leadership supports military conscription. In particular, UGCC head Sviatoslav Shevchuk has stated: "We consistently explain that draft evasion is a failure to fulfill one's civic duty."
As the UOJ previously reported, Boyko had described the killing of a TRC officer as a "particularly grave sin."
