On the evening of September 21, 2021, in the village of Ivanchanka, Bolgradsky district, Odessa region, a 12-year-old teenager Vitaly set fire to the lower church in honor of the Holy Spirit, which is being built. The Segodnya journalists went to the village and talked to the guy, his grandmother and local residents. The schoolboy and his grandmother asked forgiveness from their fellow villagers for what they had done. This was reported by the Information and Education Department of the UOC.
Under the supervision of his grandmother, Vitalik showed how he made his way to the unfinished church then, although the doors were locked.
After the arson, the student explained his actions to the police with a desire to take revenge on a classmate who is the son of the abbot of this temple – supposedly the guy constantly insulted him. Later, as it turned out, he simply made up such an excuse.
As local teenagers said, Vitalik and the priest’s son did not quarrel and none of him mocked, the guys played together: “He is a good boy, we are friends, we play.”
The fire, which the boy started, was extinguished by the villagers on their own in half an hour. They used water, which was carried in buckets, and sand purchased for construction work in this temple. However, at that time, the fire had already destroyed the icons, windows, a donation box, some furniture and tables.
