Militants in Slavyansk sheltered by local Orthodox center

Militants who assaulted the administrative buildings in Slavyansk, were sheltered by a local Orthodox centre.

It had been stated by the mayor of Slavyansk Nelya Shtepa after the consultations of mayors and heads of regional administrations of Donetsk region, headed by governor Sergey Taruta, UNIAN informs.

She told that “five days ago these armed rebels gathered outside the city of Artyomovsk in two KamAZ trucks, after that with approval of our Orthodox priest, Father Vitaly, they lodged in his Orthodox centre.” “Citizens called me and informed that about 150 fully weaponed men entered that Orthodox center, and 300 more persons invited by Father Vitaly joined them. They are former Afghan war veterans, who joined these rebels. These 300 men received full rights from rebels, and now they do what they like in the city,” Shtepa said.

The mayor has also stated that “today night a man was travelling to work from Kharkiv to Berdyansk, he was stopped by common Slavic guys, who decided to play soldiers, who decided that they are big boys. He was stopped, they started to search the car, the man put up resistance, and they shot him at point-blank range.” As said by Shtepa, today this man “in gravest condition, bullets plowed through his legs, arms, trunk, and one surgery after another follow to save him.”

UNIAN reporter has also said that local residents of Slavyansk and Svyatogorsk, who are members of different public associations, that the so-called centre of Russian was situated in Svyatogorsk Saint Assumtion Lavra of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate) Donetsk eparchy.

Picture: Reuters