On April 21, 2023, Russian troops shelled from the left bank of the Dnipro River the house of the abbot of the local OCU community of the Resurrection of Christ, Heorhiy Khilchuk, in Beryslav, Kherson region.
That’s according to the priest in question, who spoke with Suspilne.
According to him, the projectile hit the roof and damaged the slate, and the next day the ceiling collapsed. The man himself was outside his house at the time Russians struck. He sustained a shrapnel wound in the eye. His wife was in the kitchen and luckily suffered no injuries.
“The fragment got into the orbit of the eye and therefore it had to be amputated. There is also a fracture and some knocked-out teeth. But now I’m already walking around the ward, thank God,” says Father Heorhiy.
Prior to the attack, drones were flying over the house for a couple of days, says the cleric.
“A drone flew over my house for two days, looking for something. At first I didn’t pay attention to it. Now I understand that they were doing surveillance. And then came the strike on the third day. I will recover, get back on my feet, and immediately return to Beryslav to keep doing my thing,” says the priest.
During the days under Russian occupation, Father Heorhiy Khilchuk held services in his chapel until the Russian military turned it into a barracks. Now windows are shattered, doors are broken down, and the wall has a large hole in it. Since the summer of 2022, services have been held at the priest’s home.
