11 Feb 2019 19:53

Unknown individuals attempt to set church in Ukraine's Mykolaiv region on fire - Moscow Patriarchate

KYIV. Feb 11 (Interfax) - Unidentified persons threw a bottle bomb in the building of the church of St. Elias the Martyr in the village of Zelenyi Bir, Ukraine's Mykolaiv region on Sunday night, no one has been injured, the information and education department of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate) said.

"It emerged that a window was smashed in the church and a bottle bomb was thrown in. It's a miracle that the fire did not engulf the entire church, the fire went out. Windows were broken and smashed in the church, a curtain burned down and two carpet strips on the floor were damaged, the walls are covered in soot, icons and cloths on the icons were blackened with ash," the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate said on Monday.

Before setting the church on fire, the wrongdoers cut off electricity thus turning off the alarm and video surveillance in it, it said. They also attempted to pull out the wooden cross installed in front of the church.

The police and firefighters came to the incident scene.

Interfax does not have comments of the police about this incident.