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Russia begins dismantling last Ukrainian Orthodox church in occupied Crimea. Officials want to charge the demolition cost to the parishioners who were fighting since 2019 to save their church.
The demolition of the church in Yevpatoria started on July 21. The dome has already been removed from the temple and the upper part of the church has been dismantled, reports the Voice of Crimea. The struggle of the parish of the Most Pure Image of the Mother of God “Unburnt Bush” in Yevpatoria and the Office of the Crimean Eparchy of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the KP (now the OCU) for the church began from the beginning of the occupation of the peninsula demanding to demolish the church.
Former Deputy Prosecutor General Gyunduz Mamedov said, citing Metropolitan Klyment of the OCU Diocese in Crimea, that it was the last remaining OCU church in the occupied peninsula.
Under Russian occupation, religious groups that do not conform to Russia’s brand of Orthodoxy have been subject to repression, including the destruction of religious sites and persecution of religious leaders.
According to the State Agency of Ukraine for Ethno-Politics and Freedom of Conscience (DESS), the OCU has effectively ceased to exist in Crimea while its priests were forced to leave the occupied peninsula.
The authorized representative of the Crimean Eparchy of the OCU, Andrei Schekun, said that all the crimes committed by the Russians on the sovereign territory of the state of Ukraine have one basis – the genocide of Ukrainians in Crimea on ethnic grounds. First they destroyed the Ukrainian language, then Ukrainian culture, and now the Ukrainian church. “We have no right to remain silent. Tomorrow we have to talk about these crimes on all national and international platforms. We must repel the genocidal war unleashed by Muscovy. Ukrainians are the most discriminated ethnic community, and the state of Ukraine should not be silent about this. Silence and concern do not solve the urgent problem, but only encourage the racist horde to inhumane actions against Ukrainians in Crimea. It’s time for the state authorities of Ukraine to finally start adequately responding to such actions of the occupiers.”