“The chaplain of the Donetsk eparchy of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, Archpriest Valeriy Lotarev, was wounded in the abdominal area as he was transporting severely wounded Ukrainian soldiers from the town of Nikolske in his car. Now he and his family are in a safe place,” said Metropolitan Serhiy (Gorobtsov).
It should be recalled that earlier the Russian military seized a Ukrainian rescue ship, Sapphire, which was set to evacuate the bodies of Ukrainian soldiers, who were considered killed in action, from Zmiinyi (Snake) Island.
For this purpose, the priest of the Odesa eparchy, Vasyl Vyrozub, was on board. He was captured along with the crew and the humanitarian mission members.
