UKRAINIAN forces were accused yesterday of massacring priests and monks in the eastern Donetsk region as part of a purge of religious figures with alleged pro-Russian sympathies. 

Vladimir Bandura, the leader of the town of Svyatogorsk in the mountainous eastern region of Ukraine, claimed that killings and looting by far-right forces were being covered up and going unreported. 

“I want to say that there is verified information that the nazis are murdering priests, monks and they are sweeping these facts under the rug,” he said.