Vandals tried to set fire to the Peter Mogila Church (belonging to the
Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Moscow Patriarchate) in Kiev on Monday.
Four bottles containing an incendiary mixture thrown at the church bounced off its wooden walls, a spokesperson for the Ukrainian Orthodox Church said.
"It was only a miracle, under the protection of the Holy Mother, that the church remained intact. The bottles were not smashed and bounced off the walls," the church rector Archpriest Ioann Tronko, said.
Behind the attempt to set the church on fire is a desire to seize the expensive land on which it stands, he said.
"The parish has been suffering for half a year now from aggressive actions of unknown investors who are intent on building a multi-storey building in place of the church," the statement said.
This is a second arson attempt on the church. The first attack was attempted a year ago.