Kiev, November 15 – Molotov cocktails have been thrown at the building of St. Andrew’s Church in Kiev, which was recently transferred to Constantinople’s jurisdiction and which is currently being restored, according to Yevstraty Zorya, the press secretary of the “Kiev Patriarchate”.
“Molotov cocktails were thrown at the doors of the foundation house of St. Andrew’s Church an hour and a half ago. There was no fire, no damage was done, no one was hurt,” Zorya wrote on Facebook on Thursday.
The Kiev police said the attackers had thrown bottles containing an incendiary mixture at the door of St. Andrew’s Church but that no fire occurred.
A security guard at St. Andrew’s Church called the police at 8:05 a.m. and said that two unknown individuals had thrown two glass bottles at the doors of the church. “No one was hurt, and there was no fire,” the police said.
The security guards said they had tried to detain the men, but the latter used gas sprays and fled.
“The site of the incident and the territory nearby are now being closely examined. The police are talking to witnesses and finding out which surveillance cameras might have recorded the incident and the malefactors. A legal assessment of the incident is underway,” Kiev police chief Andrey Krischenko said.
Later, Zorya said on Facebook that a priest of the “Kiev Patriarchate”, the custodian of the church, had been attacked with pepper spray.
St. Andrew’s Church, an object of cultural heritage that belongs to the state, was recently handed over to the Ecumenical Patriarchate.
