You're reading: US Embassy concerned over attack on St. Andrew’s Church in Kyiv

The U.S. Embassy to Ukraine is concerned about the incident around St. Andrew’s Church in Kyiv and supports the right of religious groups to confess their faith without interference and attacks.

“We are very concerned by reports of an attack on St. Andrew’s Church in Kyiv today. We support the right of all religious groups to practice their beliefs free from persecution, interference, or attack,” the Embassy said on Twitter.

The Kyiv police reported that some thugs threw cocktail bombs at the doors of St Andrew’s Church; however, the fire did not catch up.

“At 8:05 the police received a call on the 102 hotline from a guard at St Andrew’s Church. He said that two unidentified persons threw two glass bottles at the doors of the church… Nobody was injured in the incident, the fire did not catch up,” the police statement says.

The church’s guards said they had tried to catch the thugs; however, the latter used pepper guns on them and run away.

“The site of the incident and the territory nearby are being closely examined now. The police are talking to witnesses and finding out which surveillance cams may have recorded the incident and the thugs. The legal assessment of the incident is underway,” Kyiv’s police chief Andriy Kryschenko said.

Archbishop Eustraty wrote later on Facebook that a priest of the Kyiv Patriarchate, the janitor of the church, was injured in the incident as the attackers used pepper guns on him.

As was earlier reported, St Andrew’s Church in Kyiv has been handed over to the Ecumenical Patriarchate to be used for carrying out church services, ceremonies, and cavalcades.

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