BELGOROD, September 4. /TASS/. Eighteen churches in Russia’s borderline Belgorod Region have been destroyed or damaged by Ukrainian attacks, Metropolitan Ioann of Belgorod and Stary Oskol told the Rossiya-24 TV channel.

"Eighteen of our churches have been completely or partially destroyed," he said.

The metropolitan added that despite constant shelling attacks and the overall difficult situation, work continued to rebuild the churches.

On Tuesday morning, a Ukrainian drone strike damaged the church of St. Nicholas in the village of Gruzskoye in the Belgorod Region. "The church has been attacked ten times since May. <...> Another attack came at six in the morning yesterday. The church was damaged by fire, projectiles destroyed its domes and refectory. The priest managed to take most of the relics to a safe place," the metropolitan said.