There is the first Russian death on Russian territory in these 30 days of war in Ukraine: the name of the victim was Oleg Artemov and was military chaplain in the village Zhuravlyokovain the Russian region Belgorod. The village is located just two kilometers from the Ukrainian border, bordering the region Kharkiv, one of the hardest hit by the Russian army. Artemov was reportedly hit by a Ukrainian missile attack in the southwest of the Federation.
That was announced there Russian Orthodox Church: the chaplain “he was in the village last night Jouravliovka as he fell under the fire of the smerch (several rocket launchersed) Ukrainian who died and died in the performance of his duties, the bishop announced Savvatiy von Bronnitsky, President of the Synodal Department for Interaction with the Armed Forces and Law Enforcement of the Moscow Patriarchate. Thursday morning the governor of the Belgorod region, Vyacheslav Gladkovhad stated that three people in Zhuravlevka had been injured by bombing raids carried out from the territory of Ukraine last night.
Born in 1957, the Orthodox chaplain was a naval officer and had previously served as a chaplain on submarines and a Russian research ship. The fact that the first Russian death at home is a religious one is a significant and troubling coincidence, for the news comes in the hours it does Pope Francis thundered against them againincreased military spending (“Crazy, I’m ashamed,” was his direct accusation against the government Mario Draghi) and especially just before the most important religious event of recent months, the consecration of Russia and Ukraine to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, which the Pope will celebrate in St. Peter’s Basilica during penance and at the same time with the same act Fatimah from the cardinal Konrad Krajewski, papal almsgiver.
