Beating of a soldier in a UOC-MP church and a Russian strike in the center of Kostiantynivka: highlights of the day

Beating of a soldier in the church of the UOC-MP

A member of the Khmelnytskyi Regional Council, Viktor Burlyk, reported the beating of a military man in the UOC-MP church in Khmelnytskyi. The video he posted shows a priest pushing and kicking a man in uniform, after which he and other soldiers take him out of the building.

A patrol police spokesperson told a local newspaper that during the service, the 26-year-old soldier started a conflict with the priest, and witnesses called the police. The patrol police were considering bringing the soldier to administrative responsibility under an article on disorderly conduct.

Meanwhile, the police in Khmelnytskyi Oblast reported that they had opened a criminal investigation into hooliganism for beating the soldier. Police are currently investigating all the circumstances of the conflict, interviewing witnesses and participants in the incident.

In response, the mayor of Khmelnytskyi, Oleksandr Symchyshyn, said that all those who beat the soldier should be brought to justice. And the patrol policemen who drew up the report against the soldier should be fired. The mayor also announced a decision on land plots for the UOC-MP in the city.

Also in Khmelnytskyi, about 500 people gathered for a rally near the church. They were collecting signatures to transfer the church to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine. Meanwhile, the parishioners of the UOC-MP church were praying. Representatives of the UOC-MP left the territory through the back door.

The UOC-MP claimed that the cathedral was stormed by “radicals” and called the incident in the cathedral a provocation. At the same time, the regional administration called for a reduction in the degree of tension and for the relevant services to resolve the conflict.

Later, our correspondent reported that the first prayer was held in Ukrainian.

Strike on the center of Kostiantynivka

On the morning of 2 April, Russian troops shelled the center of Kostiantynivka in Donetsk Oblast. The head of the President's Office, Andrii Yermak, reported six dead and eight people wounded.

16 apartment buildings, 8 houses, a kindergarten, a tax inspection building, gas pipes, and three cars were damaged.

In addition, Russian troops fired mortars at the Nova Sloboda community in Sumy Oblast at around 5 a.m. on 2 April. Two people were killed as a result.

Situation at the frontline

Deputy Minister of Defense Hanna Maliar said that the situation in Bakhmut remains very tense. Russia is making attempts to use not only Wagner Group mercenaries but also professional paratrooper units.

“The response to the current situation is being carried out competently, taking into account all circumstances, tasks, and the principle of military expediency. We trust our military,” she stressed.

Thanks to the coordinated actions of the Ukrainian Defense Forces in the Donetsk sector, the occupiers retreated from some positions. Ukrainian servicemen are currently arranging these positions for defensive actions, said Colonel Oleksii Dmytrashkivskyi, spokesperson for the joint press center of the Tauride sector of the Ukrainian Defense Forces.

Briefly about other news

• Russian “war correspondent” Vladlen Tatarsky was killed in an explosion in St Petersburg.
•  “It will only harm Ukrainian athletes”: The International Olympic Committee criticized Ukraine's decision to boycott the competition if Russians participate.
• Blinken called Lavrov over the detention of an American journalist.
• The UOC-MP held a service in the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra Monastery despite a court order.
• Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council Oleksii Danilov published 12 steps from the programmer for the de-occupation of Crimea, which the NSDC is working on.