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Military operation in Ukraine

Russian forces find coordinates of DPR churches at former Ukrainian positions in Avdeyevka

It was possible to establish that the Ukrainian servicemen were tasked with hitting Orthodox sites in the region aide to the head of the Donetsk People's Republic Igor Kimakovsky said

© Dmitry Yagodkin/TASS

MOSCOW, April 15. /TASS/. Coordinates of the location of churches and monasteries in Donetsk, Makeyevka and Yasinovataya have been found on the phones of dead Ukrainian servicemen at the former Ukrainian positions in Avdeyevka, aide to the head of the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) Igor Kimakovsky told TASS.

"[Russian forces] found several phones belonging to dead Ukrainian servicemen at the former artillery positions of the Ukrainian armed formations. Some phones were restored. It turned out that there were recorded coordinates of targets, which, as it turned out, included churches in Donetsk, Makeyevka, Yasinovataya and surrounding settlements. The coordinates were in a special program that is actively used by the Ukrainian military," Kimakovsky said.

In addition, according to the aide, it was possible to establish that the Ukrainian servicemen were tasked with hitting Orthodox sites in the region. "I will not reveal all the details, but this process has overseas curators, similar to the way it was in Syria," the aide said.

The DPR mission to the Joint Control and Coordination Center on issues related to Ukraine's war crimes (JCCC) told TASS that almost two dozen churches and monasteries have been damaged or destroyed in Donetsk, Yasinovataya and Makeyevka since 2022. The Ukrainian army carries out the most massive attacks on church holidays.

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Foreign policy Ukraine Military operation in Ukraine

Military operation in Ukraine

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