CHRISTIANS IN DONETSK REGION ARE UNDER THE GUN OF INSURGENTS. REVIEW FOR JUNE

Throughout June, terrorists seized the belongings  and occupied the premises of Christian evangelical churches and rehabilitation centers in the Donetsk Region of Ukraine. Pastors and their wives and children, and also parishioners have been taken into captivity. They scoffed at those in need of treatment (former drug and alcohol addicts). They raided and plundered the property of churches and the ministers. A Christian orphanage has been ransacked. A pastor in Mariupol was killed by shell fragments. Below is a review of the persecution of Christians by the militants in Donbass in June.

Slovyansk, Donetsk Oblast

June 6 In Slovyansk representatives of the "People's Republic of Donetsk" (DNR) raided the Sails of Hope Christian orphanage for children. According to Pastor Peter Dudnik of Good News Church, who later organized evacuations from Slovyansk, people in military uniforms seized mattresses, pillows and blankets. "Over the past 15 years of serving the orphans, this is the first time that the children are not given beds, rather they take them away. I'll not talk about how the building that was home to up to 50 orphans has been destroyed. I'll not talk about how all the windows are busted out, and the roof is riddled with holes...God have mercy on our Sloyansk," wrote Peter on his FB page.

June 8 During a festive service celebrating Pentecost, pro-Russian separatists kidnapped churchgoers from Transfiguration Church in the besieged city of Slovyansk, in the Donetsk  Region. Church member Tatyana Lysenko posted reports on this via Twitter. "Ruvim Pavenko, Albert Pavenko, Victor Brodarsky, Vova Velichko –these brothers have just been taken directly from the service in Transfiguration Church and transported to the former headquarters of the security service in Slovyansk," she says in her posting. As of June 27, these people are still being held prisoner.

According to reports from Slovyansk pastor Peter Dudnik, "firing from heavy weaponry" was underway in the immediate area of the Good News Church. On June 7, Ukrainian Minister of the Interior Arsen Avakov reported on Facebook that blindfolded parishioners were confined nearby for the purposes of using them as human shields.

Gorlovka, Donetsk Oblast 

June 16  Armed men demolished the premises of Next Generation Church.

On June 16, armed militants from the DNR interrupted a prayer service and "nationalized" Word of Life Church. "On Monday, at the end of the work day, we held a prayer service in our church. People with guns showed up, and demanded that we open all the rooms. They held us for an hour, then they drove everybody out. They told us that now this was the headquarters for the DNR and the building has been nationalized. We were told that Protestant churches in Gorlovka are a thing of the past,"-said a parishioner of the church.

Slovyansk, Donetsk Oblast

June 14 Pastor Sergei Skorobogach of the Renewal Church was killed by shrapnel when a passing car packed with explosives exploded. He left behind a wife and children, including a six-year-old boy. One of the missiles fired by the terrorists demolished his car, a Honda.

June 17 Militants in Donetsk seized the Evening Light Rehabilitation Center. The terrorists took captive 27 people, and also detained the director and administrative assistant of the center. Donetsk police chief Seleznev helped negotiate the release the illegally detained civilians, half of whom were sick and require daily treatment, two days later. Since then the center's residents have been evacuated to a safe location.

June 19 Word of Life church in Torez was seized. The church is part of the union of Protestant churches overseen by Ukrainian Bishop Sergey Yakovlev. Armed men wearing the insignia of the Cossack Guards storm the church. They order the furniture to be taken out, alleging that these churches are all regarded as sects and will be destroyed. People in the building at the time were threatened with execution if they made a fuss over this incident. 

June 21 Armed DNR militants seized the Word of Life church in Shakhtersk. During the seizure, Pastor Nikolai Kalinichenko is detained. Later, the militants release the pastor, but the militants kept his car. They also threatened the pastor, saying that if he continued to engage in religious activity he will be shot. 

June 25 DNR militants seized the Rock of Salvation rehabilitation center in Donetsk. Reports on the Grehu.net website tell us that the ministers were confined in a room and no one was allowed out, nor was contact via cellphone permitted. Later, Paster Sergey Kosyak relayed the latest information about events at the Rock of Salvation center on his Facebook page. "According to information from the center, people from the DNR showed up at the center before noon and very politely asked that part of the facility be allocated to them for their use. After brief negotiations, representatives of the rehabilitation center and the DNR fighters reached a bilateral agreement on their mutual coexistence. The center is retaining some outbuildings and part of the complex, while the DNR is situated in a small, self-sufficient building."

June 26 In Druzhkovka, at 10 in the morning, a pastor and his wife are taken captive by the DNR. Sergey Kosyak posted on facebook that a group of armed masked men broke into Victory Church and ordered that the priest be taken. The sister on duty called Pastor Pavel Lisko, who after a while appeared with his wife Vasilina. The armed militants confiscated money, documents from the safe, the office computer, and, together with the pastor and his wife, transported everything to the militant headquarters in a building near the Druzhkovka City Council.

And on June 27, the militants take the illegally detained wife of the pastor, Vasilina, to their apartment, which they ransacked. They confiscated personal belongings, documents and office equipment and transported them back to where the pastor and his wife were being held (a former private security service located near the Druzhkovka City Council). Pastor Pavel and Vasilina are being held in separate cells, apart from each other. Pavel suffers from health issues and must have access to medication, which is not being provided. Currently, refugees are living on the premises of the church, and this fact is being held against him as a crime. In the same manner, collaboration with Amercans is also viewed as a crime.