A church in Ukraine has been destroyed by a Russian missile.
The incident happened on Saturday in Donetsk Oblast in the east of the country, which is currently under Russian occupation.
Ukraine’s military said a drone dropped incendiary munition onto the Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the village of Zakitne. A video shows one of the church’s towers was set alight by the attack, with the fire spreading quickly across the largely wooden building.
A Ukrainian military chaplain Fr Yaroslav who had previously preached at the church, said he had "hoped that the church in the village would stand to the end and that after liberation by our soldiers, I could return there, but the Russians... God will judge them" .
The church was consecrated in 2010 after an earlier church on the site was destroyed in the 1930s during a Russian crackdown on religious sites.
Donetsk Oblast is a region of intensive fighting, with the first phase of Russian occupation beginning in 2014. The second phase began when Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
The Geneva Convention prohibits acts of military hostility against places of worship.