Festive Easter services are being held in more than 13,000 churches across Ukraine.
Oksana Blyshchyk, chief of the communications department of the National Police of Ukraine, said this on the air of the national telethon, reports Ukrinform.
“On the entire territory of the state, in fact, 13,000 churches will hold festive services. It is clear that this is a very large number, these are both small religious buildings and large temples. Therefore, the police traditionally, like every other year, made all their calculations, and in order to ensure of people’s safety as much as possible, we involved more than 20,000 law enforcement officers,” said Blyshchyk.
According to the spokeswoman, it is mainly about police officers, but representatives of voluntary formations operating in territorial communities and the National Guard are also involved in enforcing law.
“And here I’d like to say that, despite the workload, we are ready to work around the clock in such a way that the great celebration of Christ’s Resurrection takes place without emergencies,” Blyshchyk stressed.
She recalled that on public holidays “no one canceled the curfew, and as a rule, it operates from midnight to five in the morning.”
“That’s why all believers who want to attend services, get to night services, should calculate their time so as to get to the temple before the curfew begins, and it is clear that they will be able to leave the religious building only after five in the morning,” the spokeswoman explained.
At the same time, she said that the law enforcement actively communicated with representatives of various denominations, with the abbots of churches, and there was normal interaction and understanding, “most of them generally switched the service to online mode.”
Blyshchyk also drew attention to the extremely difficult situation in the frontline regions.
“Probably the people who live there clearly understand what the safety rules are, so if possible they don’t gather in one place. We ask people about it, but if people still want to go (to the temple – ed.) – that is their right. The only thing we urge is to abide by all safety rules. That is, to follow air raid alerts, to respond to all reports about possible shelling because we understand that Russia has nothing sacred, and Easter may not be an obstacle for them not to strike our cities and villages,” the spokeswoman emphasized.
