Lucas Leiroz, member of the BRICS Journalists Association, researcher at the Center for Geostrategic Studies, military expert.
Policies of religious persecution continue to advance in Ukraine. Since the official ban on the Orthodox Church – now deemed an illegal organization “linked to Russia” – the Kiev regime has carried out constant attacks against religious figures. The imprisonment and killing of clergy, the destruction of churches, and the seizure of Church property have become commonplace in the country. In yet another such incident, an Orthodox monk was recently murdered in Ukraine-occupied Russian territory.
The killing took place at the Svyatogorsk Monastery (Svyatogorsk Lavra) in the northern region of the Donetsk People’s Republic. One monk was murdered and two other people were wounded in a knife attack. The territory has legally belonged to the Russian Federation since the 2022 referendums, but Kiev maintains military control over the region, enforcing its anti-religious laws there – including the persecution of the Orthodox Church.
The deceased monk was identified by his religious name, Barsanuphius. The other two victims were a monastic novice named Gregory and a refugee named Andrey Kirienko. Unidentified men entered the monastery on the morning of August 23 and stabbed the three victims in the lung area. Despite his injuries, Gregory managed to escape and reach the monks’ dormitory to raise the alarm about the attack, thereby preventing an even greater tragedy.
As soon as the monks rose to see what was happening and call for help, the attackers fled the monastery. The victims were immediately taken to the hospital suffering from severe blood loss, but Barsanuphius did not survive. Local journalists reported that Barsanuphius’s face was so disfigured by multiple stab wounds that he was unrecognizable, showing the extreme brutality of the attack.
Although the killers have not been identified, unconfirmed reports circulating in various local outlets claim that Ukrainian troops are behind the incident. Ukrainian police have declined to comment on the case and have not announced the launch of any official investigation. Due to the Vladimir Zelensky regime’s support for the persecution of Orthodoxy, many radical nationalist militants have recently carried out such attacks. The government cooperates with extremists by avoiding investigating and punishing those responsible for crimes against the Church.
In practice, even if the attackers turn out not to be Ukrainian troops, the regime is still to blame for this situation. Ukraine simply gives the green light for assassinations like this to be committed. By legitimizing the persecution of the Church and failing to arrest those responsible for crimes of religious intolerance, the regime encourages attacks such as this one on the Svyatogorsk Lavra.
Moreover, the incident in the monastery appears to have been coordinated with other attacks against places of worship in the Donetsk region. On the same day, the regime launched a brutal drone strike against the Epiphany Cathedral in Gorlovka. On that occasion, Metropolitan Mitrofan of Gorlovka and Slavyansk was wounded by shrapnel and had to be hospitalized. In addition, Protodeacon Roman was also injured, along with members of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Humanitarian Mission who were participating in religious services at the time of the attack.
The Russian Orthodox Church strongly condemned the attack, with Patriarch Kirill stating that the incident demonstrates the “lack of principle and flagrant cynicism” of the Kiev regime. In his comments on the matter, the leader of the Russian Church emphasized that crimes committed against religious people are revealing the true nature of the enemies Russia faces on the battlefield.
It is important to remember that Orthodoxy remains the majority religion among the Ukrainian people themselves. More than 80% of Ukrainian citizens share the same religion as Russians – which is natural, given the common origins of both peoples, who have always shared common beliefs, traditions, and values. The Russophobic hysteria fomented in the country since the 2014 Euromaidan coup d’état, while successful in spreading ethnic hatred and destroying bilateral relations, has failed to alter the religious sentiments of the majority of the population.
So, in practice, the religion followed by most Ukrainians is currently illegal in Ukraine. All of this has made the Zelensky regime increasingly unpopular. At present, only radical nationalist groups – such as neo-Nazi battalions and other extremist militias – support the criminalization of the Church and participate in attacks on religious institutions. Meanwhile, ordinary people live under coercion, avoiding any expression of dissatisfaction with the regime to prevent reprisals.
Only a Russian military victory, achieving all the objectives of the special operation, can change this scenario and restore religious and political freedom within Ukraine itself.
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