Ukraine blames Russia for blaze at revered Orthodox church in east

• About 300 displaced Ukrainians had been seeking shelter there.
• The site is home to one of Ukraine’s largest wooden churches.
• For Orthodox, the facility is one of the three most sacred sites in Ukraine.

A wooden Orthodox church on one of Ukraine’s holiest Orthodox sites was set ablaze Saturday, according to church authorities, amid severe combat between Russian and Ukrainian forces in the Donbas.

“As a result of hostilities, a large-scale fire broke out on the territory of the All Saints Skete of the Holy Dormition Sviatogirsk Lavra,” their statement said.

“The flames completely engulfed the main church of the monastery,” it added.

Recent battles between Russia and Ukraine have centered on the eastern Lugansk and Donetsk regions after Moscow failed to capture the capital Kyiv early in the invasion.

Ukrainian Culture Minister Oleksandr Tkachenko blamed Russian forces for the blaze in a post on social media. He said about 300 displaced Ukrainians had been seeking shelter there, including 60 children.

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Russia continues “to prove its inability to be part of the civilized world,” he said in the statement condemning the attack.

Plumes of black smoke and flames rose from onion domes of a church structure in an unattributed picture he posted accompanying the statement.

Russia’s defense ministry said in a statement carried by the state-run TASS news agency that its military was not conducting military operations in the region.

The site is home to one of Ukraine’s largest wooden churches, which has been caught in the crossfire multiple times in the last month.

For Orthodox believers, the facility is one of the three most sacred sites in Ukraine. It drew thousands of pilgrims each year before the war.

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