Social networks: OCU members order nationalists to storm Mikhalcha temple

Andriy Puzdryak, in whose name representatives of the OCU sent a letter with a request to help seize the temple of the UOC in Mikhalcha. Photo: tg-channel Klymenko Time

Before another attempt to seize the Holy Dormition temple of the UOC in the village of Mikhalcha, Chernivtsi region, representatives of the OCU turned to one of the nationalist organizations for help, in fact ordering an assault. This is reported by the Telegram channel Klymenko Time.

“According to the information we received, before the attack on the temple, the invaders wrote a letter to the nationalist organization ‘People's Control of United Communities’, where they essentially ordered the storming of the temple. The letter was written to Andrey Puzdryak, an ATO officer and today a representative of the United Alternative party, who often gets into scandals. The text also refers to the Tigr security company, whose soldiers were hired when the temple in Tovtry was seized,” the message says.

The petition, the text of which came into the possession of the resource, is signed by the “head of the parish council of the temple” from the OCU Vasily Maskal.

Recall that on December 12, 2020, raiders from the OCU staged another assault on the Holy Dormition temple of the UOC in Mikhalcha village. Before the arrival of the police, OCU activists, most of whom had been brought on purpose to Mikhalcha to seize the church, tried to enter the church through the vestibule but did not manage to get inside.

The Orthodox faithful of Mikhalcha said that the raiders, who came to the temple with brass knuckles, bats, tear gas and smoke bombs, broke the video cameras installed on the temple grounds, disrupted the alarm and warning system. In addition, during the storming of the temple, supporters of the OCU attacked the rector. The OCU, however, reported that people in Mikhalcha “came to pray” with bats and brass knuckles.

After the storming of the UOC church in Mikhalcha, the police opened three criminal cases.

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