War of the churches: Russian priest attacks Ukrainian clergyman with a CROSS at soldier's funeral
The Moscow Patriarchate's Mykhailo Vasylyuk was captured on video disturbing soldier Oleksandr Zinivy's funeral by attacking a Ukrainian priest. In the video, the assailant strikes priest Anatoliy Dudko while attempting to take the cross from his neck.
Military personnel apparently had to step in and stop the fight before Russian priest Vasylyuk was carried away. Serhiy Timkov, a community activist, posted the video on Facebook, revealing that Dudko had sustained mild wounds. The video is now unavailable on Facebook.
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He wrote in the caption, "In my opinion, [the incident] crosses all possible and impossible limits of arrogance. Based on the above, I further ask law enforcement authorities to ensure order at any gathering where there is a conflict."
The video has also been posted on Twitter by NEXTA. "A supporter of Putin's priest Gundyaev hit his "colleague" with a cross because the representative of the UOC accused the ROC of helping the occupiers," the caption says.
In the Vinnytsia region, a priest of the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) attacked a priest of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC)
— NEXTA (@nexta_tv) July 28, 2022
A supporter of Putin's priest Gundyaev hit his "colleague" with a cross because the representative of the UOC accused the ROC of helping the occupiers. pic.twitter.com/FJwBdknysY
Apparently, Dudko's public accusation of Vladimir Putin for the ongoing war enraged the Russian priest. An offshoot of Christianity known as the Russian Orthodox Church split apart from its Moscow hierarchy earlier this year.
According to the Telegraph, in the last blow to the president, it was discovered that at least 75,000 Russian servicemen had died or been injured during the disastrous conflict in Ukraine. According to a Russian estimate, more than 56,500 troops, including members of the national guard and soldiers from private military companies, have died. The most recent statistics seem to support that estimate.
Almost a dozen additional names were discovered when colonels and lieutenant-colonels were counted, underscoring the ongoing attrition among the upper ranks. A handful of generals have also perished as the number of troops continues to decline in the five-month-old conflict that the Russian dictator initiated.
According to The Sun, Admiral Sir Tony Radakin recently claimed that thorough analyses demonstrate how miserably Putin's plan has failed. Due to the military's current state of weakness, Ukrainians are growing more optimistic that they may retake all of their former boundaries.
"They are absolutely clear they plan to restore the whole of their territory in terms of Ukraine. They see a Russia that is struggling, a Russia we assess has lost over 30 percent of its land combat effectiveness," Sir Tony said.
He continued, "Russia had the ambition to create fractures as a challenge to the world order. Russia is failing in all of those ambitions."