The Russian military allegedly attacked a church in Ukraine on Orthodox Easter, according to a Ukrainian official.
Serhii Lysak, the head of Ukraine’s Dnipro Oblast Military Administration, confirmed the shelling in a Telegram post on Sunday morning. He wrote that the attack, which falls on one of the Orthodox Church’s most important days, on a temple in the city of Nikopol left a 57-year-old man and 38-year-old woman injured and proves that “there is nothing sacred” for Russian forces.
The attack comes more than a year after Russian President Vladimir Putin launched his “special military operation” on Ukraine last February, hoping for a quick defeat. However, after many months of fighting, Russian troops have struggled to achieve substantial goals, allowing Ukraine to retake thousands of square miles of territory. Fighting now remains concentrated in the eastern regions of the war-torn country.
In addition to the attack on the church on Sunday, five residential buildings, several farm buildings, two cars, and power lines across the city were also damaged, Lysak wrote.
“The crimes of the enemy will not go unpunished. There will be retribution for everything,” he wrote. “Sincere faith and the light of the Ukrainian soul will not be overshadowed by the darkness of the aggressor.”
The attack came as people across Ukraine celebrated Orthodox Easter on Sunday. Approximately 78 percent of Ukraine’s population identified as Orthodox Christian in 2019. Orthodox Christians celebrate Easter on a different day than Protestants and Catholics, who celebrated the holiday this year on April 9. This is because the Orthodox Church follows a different calendar.
Nikopol is a city of more than 100,000 people located on the Dnipro River, located roughly 39 miles west of Zaporizhzhia, which is home to Europe’s largest nuclear power plant and has long been a site of fighting amid the Russia-Ukraine war.
More information about the attack, including the specific weaponry used, remained unknown Sunday morning.
Meanwhile, Ukraine also used the holiday to taunt Russia. Ukrainian soldiers painted ammunition, including grenades, in Ukrainian national colors to resemble Easter eggs, according to Ukraine’s Operational Command North.
Last week, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) suggested Russia could propose a ceasefire with Kyiv on Easter in an effort to stop a looming potential Ukrainian counteroffensive.
The U.S.-based think tank wrote that the Kremlin could call for a pause in fighting “out of respect for the Orthodox religion despite the fact that Russia has shown no such respect for religion in areas its forces occupy.”
However, Moscow dismissed the idea of a ceasefire, according to a report from Russian news outlet TASS.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky delivered an address on Sunday morning, marking the second Orthodox Easter since the war began last February.
“Today, we celebrate the holiday of the Resurrection of the Lord. Its main symbol is victory: the victory of good, victory of truth, victory of life. We celebrate Easter with unshakable faith in the irreversibility of these victories,” he said.
Newsweek reached out to the Russian and Ukrainian defense ministries for comment via email.
