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"We now know for sure that the great fire of the Marywilska shopping centre in Warsaw was caused by arson ordered by the Russian special services," Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on X. "Some of the perpetrators have already been detained, all the others are identified and searched for."

This week, the world watched in anticipation for Russia’s Victory Day parade after President Volodymyr Zelensky commented that he could not guarantee the safety of those attending. Meanwhile, the European Union moves one step forward to banning Russian gas from the European continent. It is also revealed this week that U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has fallen out of step with the White House.

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Law enforcement raids Moscow Patriarchate church in western Ukraine

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The local branch of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) reported on Nov. 27 that it conducted a search of a Moscow-linked cathedral in Ivano-Frankivsk to counter the possible “subversive activities of the Russian special services in Ukraine.”

In comments to public broadcaster Suspilne, the SBU confirmed that the search was conducted inside the Cathedral of the Nativity, which belongs to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church- Moscow Patriarchate (UOC-MP), a branch of Orthodoxy in Ukraine still linked to the Russian Orthodox Church.

The "counterintelligence" operation in Ivano-Frankivsk comes a few days after the SBU conducted a nationwide raid on the grounds of the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra monastery and other locations of the UOC-MP in Ukraine, including Korets Monastery in Rivne Oblast.

The UOC-MP announced the cutting of ties with Moscow in May in response to Russia's full-scale invasion, but the remains little evidence that this move had any practical implications. The church came under renewed scrutiny from Ukrainian society after a video went viral of churchgoers praying for Russia in the Lavra in Kyiv.

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The Kyiv Independent news desk

We are the news team of the Kyiv Independent. We are here to make sure our readers get quick, essential updates about the events in Ukraine. Feel free to contact us via email with feedback and news alerts.

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