Yesterday, March 12, Russian aggressors launched an air strike on one of the shrines of Ukraine, the Svyatogorsk Lavra, in the premises of which there were over 500 people, including refugees from Kharkov and Izyum. 200 of them are children.
Metropolitan Arseniy of Svyatogorsk announced this in a video message posted on the YouTube channel of the Lavra.
According to him, the air attack occurred at 22.00 after the end of the all-night vigil in honor of the Triumph of Orthodoxy, which is celebrated on March 13.
The bomb fell in the immediate vicinity of the bridge that connects the banks of the Seversky Donets River, respectively Lavra with the city of Svyatogorsk.
As a result of the explosion, windows were shattered in the Assumption Cathedral, in the Intercession Church, as well as in the Lavra Hotel, which at that time was home to 520 refugees , mainly from Kharkov, Izyum. Of these, 200 children. Some were injured by broken glass . In all three floors of the hotel, not only windows, but also doors flew out.
Currently, people are in the basements in a stressful state. The children are hysterical.
The metropolitan noted that at the time of the airstrike, about 10,000 civilians were in Svyatogorsk along with local residents and refugees. That is, there were no military formations either on the territory of the city or on the territory of the Lavra. The blow was inflicted on a peaceful city and on one of the famous shrines of Ukraine.
“We, brothers, pilgrims and refugees, appeal to everyone on whom such an action depends, that this is madness – inflicting air strikes on civilians, on people who fled the war from bombing and shelling,” the metropolitan said.
The history of the Svyatogorsk Lavra had experience in 2014-2015, when residents of Kramatorsk, Slavyansk, Debaltseve found refuge here. But this has never happened, so that an air strike was inflicted on a peaceful city and on the Lavra.
According to the clergyman, the extent of the destruction will be fully assessed in the near future.
There is currently no electricity in the Lavra. And this is important, since the monastery kitchens and the boiler room are powered by electric stoves and electric pumps.
All people are in basements. Since it became known that preparations were underway for another air strike.
The Viceroy of the Holy Assumption Svyatogorsk Lavra called on everyone who has the opportunity to influence this situation to stop the insane bombing of peaceful cities and civilians.
According to the SBU, the premises where the refugees found shelter received the most damage, and there are wounded. According to the UOC-MP, the premises of the Svyatogorsk Lavra, where the brethren of the monastery and people who fled to the church to hide from Russian shelling, were damaged by the explosion.
