Horlivka, the Donetsk region of the Ukraine, January 31, 2015
On January 31, 2015, at about 11.30 AM the Theophany Cathedral’s refectory in Horlivka was damaged during the artillery shelling of the city center. As a result of the direct hit of a shell a fire started in the refectory. Now the building is partly destroyed.
The people who then were inside the building are not injured. However, windows of the cathedral and neighboring houses were damaged.
The ruined refectory was the site where food was cooked for the needy, patients of the city hospitals and social institutions.
Another shell exploded not far from the cathedral, on the site where hot food was daily distributed to Horlivka residents. At the moment the cathedral’s congregation has no opportunity to provide food to hundreds of those who are left without means of subsistence.
Donbass civilians are continuously suffering from the warfare. Every day artillery shells destroy residential buildings, infrastructure objects, churches; many innocent people are killed or severely injured.
Orthodox Christians of Donbass are praying for the speedy termination of the war.