The police in the Khmelnytskyi region denied reports of the murder of a Ukrainian Armed Forces soldier on the grounds of a Ukrainian Orthodox Church monastery

The Khmelnytskyi Regional Police published a refutation of information that a Ukrainian Armed Forces soldier had been killed on the territory of the Holy Cross Monastery of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Starokostiantyniv. The source of the fake news was local city council deputy Serhiy Zhmurko, who wrote on social media that the abbot of the monastery allegedly beat the soldier to death after drinking alcohol with him. However, the Khmelnytskyi region police refuted this information.

“Information is spreading on social media that a Ukrainian Armed Forces soldier was killed in Starokostiantyniv on the territory of the UOC-MP monastery. This information is not true. Yesterday, August 3, the police received a report that a man had died on Ivan Fedorov Street on the monastery grounds. An investigative team and medics were dispatched to the scene. The body of the 51-year-old man was sent for a forensic medical examination, which showed that the cause of death was acute pancreatitis. This fact has been entered into the Unified Register of Pre-trial Investigations under Article 115 with the note “Natural death.” Law enforcement officers are currently establishing all the circumstances of the incident,” – the police said.

Earlier, the Mukachevo Diocese of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church denied reports that a UOC priest and his parish had allegedly transferred to the OCU. The diocese’s press service stated that the church in question had never been part of the UOC, and that the priest in question had no connection to the Mukachevo Diocese of the UOC.