Easter service. File photoMARIUPOL, 24 Apr.The Easter service was held in the church of the Archangel Michael in the city of Mariupol, the head of the DPR Denis Pushilin was present at the celebration, RIA Novosti correspondent reports. The Easter service was held in the church, which suffered from the actions of Ukrainian nationalists. During the service, several hundred people were on the territory of the temple. By tradition, the inhabitants of Mariupol carried food for consecration. Due to the current situation, the set of products was modest — Easter cakes, colored eggs, some had bottles of homemade wine in their baskets. Head of the Donetsk People's Republic Denis Pushilin visited the service. He spoke with the parishioners and with the rector of the temple. Against the background of the ringing of bells, artillery salvos were heard in the area of the Azovstal plant, where a group of militants of the nationalist Azov regiment is now blocked (a criminal case has been opened against them in the Russian Federation). «On this bright Easter holiday, it was important for me to be with my fellow countrymen, they were more difficult than eight years.Because shells are one thing, we got used to shells over these eight years, and what we tried to do with their souls, with their consciousness, it was really not easy.Nevertheless, we see that the Orthodox faith is strong, we see «How many parishioners. Yes, when it's dangerous, yes, when it's still thundering. I would like to express confidence that victory is already close,» Pushilin said. «/>Patriarch Kirill wished peace to the heads of Orthodox churches for Easter At the time of the proclamation of the DPR in 2014, Mariupol, with a population of about 450 thousand people, was the second city of the republic after Donetsk, but in June of the same year, Ukrainian security forces regained control of Mariupol. On March 7, 12 days after the start of the Russian special operation to demilitarize Ukraine, the deputy commander of the Vostok battalion, Alexander Semyonov, announced that the city was surrounded, and a cleansing of its individual districts had begun. On April 16, the official representative of the Russian Defense Ministry, Igor Konashenkov, announced that the entire city territory had been cleared of the Ukrainian army, foreign mercenaries and neo-Nazis from the Azov regiment (against whose militants a criminal case was initiated in Russia). The remnants of the Ukrainian group are blocked at the Azovstal metallurgical plant. Russia launched a military operation in Ukraine on February 24. President Vladimir Putin called its goal «the protection of people who have been subjected to bullying and genocide by the Kyiv regime for eight years.» For this, according to him, it is planned to carry out «demilitarization and denazification of Ukraine», to bring to justice all war criminals responsible for «bloody crimes against civilians» in Donbass. According to the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, the Armed Forces strike only at the military infrastructure and Ukrainian troops, and on March 25 they completed the main tasks of the first stage — they significantly reduced the combat potential of Ukraine. The main goal in the Russian military department was called the liberation of Donbass.
