On the morning of January 2, in the Holy Virgin Church in Vinnytsia, an unknown man attacked the priest Anthony Kovtonyuk and cut him on the throat. The unidentified man had entered the church and started turning everything over, so the priest reprimanded him. Then, the perpetrator attacked the priest with his knife, as it was reported by the diocese of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. The police came to the scene and apprehended the attacker, who has been arrested. Father Anthony was taken to the emergency services later transferred to the intensive care unit in a Vinnitsia hospital.
The police continued the investigations inside the church.
Also, the clergy made an appeal to Ukrainians to not incite religious hatred on the territory of Ukraine, to avoid such violent attacks on priests in the future. Tensions have increased since the start of the war and Russia's military invasion of Ukraine. The Ukrainian Orthodox Church that remained under the Moscow Patriarchate has been therefore subject of discussion, mistrust and other issues.