The wooden structure of All Saints Monastery of the Svyatogorsk Lavra, which is placed in Gorlovka city in Donetsk region and belongs to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate, was set ablaze Saturday after a set of targeted shelling by Russian forces, according to Fox News.
On his official Telegram channel, Zelenskyy posted a video of the burning monastery, stating, “Russian artillery struck … and destroyed All Saints Monastery,” the Qatari government-run news agency Al Jazeera announced.
WATCH: THE AG'S RAN ON "GETTING" TRUMP
The Ukrainian president further announced that Russia should be expelled from the United Nations cultural agency UNESCO. “Every church burned by Russia in Ukraine, every school blown up, every destroyed memorial proves that Russia has no place in UNESCO.”
WATCH: THE TIMING OF TRUMP'S TRIAL, WHY NOW?
The monastery lies near Russian positions in eastern Donetsk, which the Kremlin is focused on capturing.
“There were about 300 refugees, about 60 children. Racists continue to prove inability to be part of the civilized world,” wrote Tkachenko Oleksandr, the minister of culture and information policy of Ukraine, on Twitter, continuing that 133 religious buildings in Ukraine had “suffered from Russia.”
SECURITY IN OVERDRIVE: HOME DEPOT'S UNCONVENTIONAL RESPONSE TO NEW YORK'S CRIME CRISIS
Oleksandr explained to the media that “when the Russians destroy Ukrainian heritage, they don’t care whether these are their [spiritual sites] or not, they just destroy them.”
Ukraine World, an English-language media outlet, wrote, “Earlier this week several monks & nuns were killed in the Russian shelling of the monastery. Is this ‘friendly fire,’ a part of denazification?”
WHO'S UP NEXT? BALTIMORE MAYOR NEXT TO PLAY IDENTITY POLITICS...
Agatha Gorski, the Ukrainian journalist who was the first to report on the fire, wrote on Twitter, “The Lavra dates back to the 1500s. Second time Russia shells it. This is yet another act of Russian barbarism. For them, nothing is sacred.”
Nevertheless, the Russian government-run network RT blamed the burning down of the monastery on “civil conflict” in eastern Ukraine, stating that the Donetsk area is “the site of ongoing bloody confrontations between Kiev’s military and self-defense troops.”
MAN ARRESTED AFTER ALLEGEDLY SMASHING WINDOW TO INVADE THIS MAYOR'S HOME
“Several other churches have sustained damage since the beginning of the bloody conflict in east Ukraine. Five clerics have been killed,” the channel stated, continuing that “Russia’s Orthodox Church has called on Kiev authorities to provide safety for clerics and shrines, urging them not to allow the civil conflict to develop a ‘religious dimension.’”
WHITE HOUSE WEIGHING GAME-CHANGING SHIFT IN IMMIGRATION POLICY
Russia’s defense ministry has further argued that Ukrainian troops set fire to the monastery, according to Al Jazeera.
The setting ablaze of the monastery is likely to deepen the rift in the ecumenical relations between Ukraine and Russia.
THREAT OR PROMISE? DEMOCRATIC HOPEFUL'S CONTROVERSIAL MESSAGE: "DIE MAGA DIE"
Since Russia started its attack on Feb. 24, no less than 4,183 civilians have been murdered and 5,014 injured as of a Friday update from the U.N. Among those killed are 268 children.
Russia's President Vladimir Putin’s attack on Ukraine was denounced by almost 300 Russian Orthodox leaders in an open letter issued in March.
ANARCHY ACROSS AMERICA: HOW DID UN NEWSLETTER FUEL ANTI-ISRAEL 4/15 AGENDA
“We mourn the ordeal to which our brothers and sisters in Ukraine were undeservedly subjected,” the Russian Orthodox clerics announced in their open letter. “The Last Judgment awaits every person.”
TUCKER CARLSON TELLS JOE ROGAN WHAT POLITICIANS ARE SO AFRAID OF TODAY...
“No earthly authority, no doctors, no guards will protect from this judgment. Concerned about the salvation of every person who considers himself a child of the Russian Orthodox Church, we do not want him to appear at this judgment, bearing the heavy burden of mother’s curses.”
Moscow Patriarch Kirill, an ally of Putin’s, has been blamed for lending religious justification for the attack, although countless religious leaders have called for him to denounce the violence.
Discover alternative ideas that will make you think
Engage in mind bending debate
Earn points, rise in rank, have fun
