The pastor along with his sons Albert, born 1990, and Reuben, born 1984, and two other ministers of the church - Viktor Brodarskyj and Vladimir Velichko - were kidnapped on June 8 during the liturgy on the Day of Trinity. They took with them the victims' four cars. The churchmen were tortured and then shot, writes Heraschenko.  Later their bodies were found in one of the mass graves, together with two dozen other martyrs (as reported by our Donbas brethren),” the website of the religious organization says.

KYIV, July 28, 2014 (UBO*) - Advisor to the Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine Anton Heraschenko last week  revealed the details of the martyrdom of the family of Alexander Pavenkov, the pastor of the Sloviansk branch of the Church of the Transfiguration, which he first reported on July 8 during a press conference.

He said that in this case it is very important to know the truth because Russian propaganda tries to present the death of innocent people as the work of Ukrainian military.

Somebody told the terrorists that the ministers of the Church of the Transfiguration help and feed the soldiers of the Ukrainian army andNational Guard standing at checkpoints around Sloviansk and maybe convey them information about the actions of terrorists, the adviser to the minister said on his Facebook page.

The pastor along with his sons Albert, born 1990, and Reuben, born 1984, and two other ministers of the church - Viktor Brodarskyj and Vladimir Velichko - were kidnapped on June 8 during the liturgy on the Day of Trinity.

They took with them the victims' four cars. The churchmen were tortured and then shot, writes Heraschenko.

Having been reprimanded by Colonel Igor Strelkov, the Hirkin killers tried to make the deaths of the ministers look like a result of mortar fire from the Ukrainian side. The bodies of the victims were buried in a mass grave by terrorists in a children's hospital in Sloviansk along with two dozen dead militants. 

Earlier, Russian media completely distorted information about the murder of the priests in Sloviansk.

*The article above appears through courtesy of the Religious Information Service of Ukraine. Access RISU at www.risu.org.ua.