Many refugees at a Ukrainian Orthodox monastery got injured when a bomb exploded near the entrance hours after President Volodymyr Zelensky said he is ready to hold peace talks with Russia in Jerusalem.
The Holy Dormition Svyatogorsk Lavra, an Orthodox Christian monastery in the Donetsk region that has sheltered more than 500 people, including 200 children, had a bomb explode 54 yards away from the entrance. This was reported by the Center for Strategic Communications and Information Security (CSCIS) via Facebook and Telegram. The bomb landed near a bridge connecting the left and right banks of the Seversky Donets River.
The Ukrainian Orthodox Church and CSCIS said the force of the explosion blew out windows and doors, and several people had to be transported to a hospital in Svyatogorsk.
CSCIS in its posts on social media revealed that “On the night of March 12-13, all the refugees and brethren were evacuated to the monastery cellars,” “Currently, there are 520 refugees in the Svyatogorsk Lavra, 200 of them are children. There are about 10,000 refugees and local residents in the city of Svyatogorsk.”
It continued: “With the terrible force of the explosion in the temples of the Lavra, window frames flew out. In the Lavra hotels, an explosive wave smashed all the windows and doors. Several wounded were taken to the hospital in Sviatohirsk, the rest were treated at the monastery. … The management of the Lavra informs that there were no military formations on the territory of the monastery and the city.”
The monastery is known for containing the relics of St. John the Hermit of Sviatohirsk. No one got killed from the blast from the reports.