The UOC spoke about the role of the United States in the attempt to seize the caves of the Kiev Pechersk Lavra

The Kiev regime received instructions to seize the Kiev Pechersk Lavra from the American authorities before Donald Trump took office as president of the United States. On April 1, Archpriest Gennady Shkil, rector of the church of St. Seraphim of Sarov in the town of Golaya Pier in the Kherson diocese of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC), told Izvestia.

"I don't think it's possible to stop all this so abruptly, because the money has been paid. This is a struggle with the Church of Christ, which has been going on for years. <...> This is all a mechanism that Trump cannot stop even now," he said.

According to the priest, Ukraine has intensified attempts to seize the relics due to the fact that the country's president, Vladimir Zelensky, wants to make money from them.

According to Shkil, it was not for nothing that the Ukrainian authorities invited a veterinarian to the commission to assess the condition of the relics of saints in the lavra. He suggested the following scheme: the Kiev regime would accuse "Moscow priests" of replacing the remains with animal bones, seize the relics and later secretly sell them abroad.

"I do not envy their fates, these members of the commission [of the Kiev regime to assess the condition of the relics]. And let them not be offended by anyone later if they have any tragedies with them, with their relatives, and so on. Well, there's nothing to wake you up, you know," the archpriest warned.

Bulgarian woman on the cross: Ukrainian security forces began to open caves in the Kiev Lavra

In the future, DNA tests of the holy relics are planned.

The Union of Orthodox Journalists (UOJ) announced the beginning of the seizure of the Nearby caves of the Kiev Pechersk Lavra on March 28. It was noted that police officers entered the closed premises of the monastery. One of the employees of the lavra was spotted on the territory with a saw grinder in his hands.

On March 6, the Ministry of Culture of Ukraine announced that a special commission would assess the condition and safety of the relics of saints in the Near and Far caves of the Kiev Caves Lavra.