![Destruction, isolation, and controversy in frontline monastery of Sviatohirsk](https://assets.kyivindependent.com/content/images/2023/02/dscf6009-1667227488dz9k4.jpg)
Destruction, isolation, and controversy in frontline monastery of Sviatohirsk
SVIATOHIRSK, Donetsk Oblast – For centuries, the gleaming whitewashed walls of the Sviatohirsk Dormition Lavra, peeking out of the hilly forest above the Siverskyi Donets River, attracted pilgrims from across the Eastern Orthodox world. Now, in an obscene imitation of a Jackson Pollock painting, they stand in many places splattered with