ПЕРШЕ СВАВІЛЛЯ МІЛІЦІЇ В НЕЗАЛЕЖНІЙ УКРАЇНІ

In this issue of TSN PLUS, we talk about the first police brutality in independent Ukraine. At the entrance to St. Sophia in Kyiv, there is a grave, which thousands of people pass by every day. Most do not even realize that it has become a symbol of one of the most tragic and still unpunished crimes in the history of independent Ukraine. On July 18, 1995, the Ukrainian authorities used force against their own citizens. During the funeral of Patriarch Volodymyr, special police units attacked unarmed people - priests, bishops, women, children and thousands of believers. Patriarch Volodymyr was not just a church hierarch. For his pro-Ukrainian beliefs, he spent almost twenty years in Soviet camps. Even after his death, his figure remained a symbol of the struggle for an independent Ukrainian church. The patriotic public insisted that he be buried near St. Sophia. Such a burial would have had enormous symbolic significance — it would have meant state recognition of the Kyiv Patriarchate as the heir to the Ukrainian spiritual tradition. During the farewell at the Volodymyr Cathedral, the first President of Ukraine Leonid Kravchuk, according to eyewitnesses, personally agreed with the route of the procession, saying: “Turn right.” After that, the funeral procession set off for St. Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv. When the procession approached the cathedral, the first clash with the police line occurred. Who exactly used force first remains a subject of controversy to this day. It is known that among the participants in the procession were representatives of the UNSO, who performed the functions of an honor guard, in particular, Sashko Bily, Andriy Shkil and Dmytro Korchinsky. They can be recognized on numerous video recordings of those events. The most terrible thing began when the coffin was already being lowered into the grave. Special police units suddenly emerged from the gates of Sofia and began a violent dispersal. Baton strikes rained down indiscriminately on clergy, bishops, the elderly, women, and children. The clash left behind bent police batons, broken banners, torn priestly robes, and dozens of injured people. The then Minister of Internal Affairs, Yuriy Kravchenko, promised to conduct an official investigation. They tried to pin the responsibility on Major General Budnikov. However, the main question was never answered: who gave the order to use force? The leader of the People's Movement of Ukraine, Vyacheslav Chornovil, openly placed political responsibility on Bankova. President Leonid Kuchma was visiting Belarus that day, and Prime Minister Yevhen Marchuk was on a business trip. The Presidential Administration was headed by Dmytro Tabachnyk, who was repeatedly linked to the Moscow Patriarchate. A year later, the criminal case was closed. The actions of law enforcement officers were officially recognized as “adequate”. No high-ranking official was brought to justice. “Black Tuesday” July 18, 1995 still remains one of the most painful and least meaningful pages in Ukrainian history — the day when the state used force against its own citizens, and the question of those who made the decision remained without a final answer. #PatriarchVolodymyr #BlackTuesday #KyivSophia #KyivPatriarchate #Berkut1995 #IndependentUkraine #UkrainianChurch #TSNPLYUS #Kravchuk #Kravchenko