The Russian Defense Ministry stated that "in Sviatogorsk, Donetsk region, militants of nationalist battalions have deployed artillery on the territory of the Svyatogorsk Lavra monastery, and civilians are being held as 'human shields.'" Such warnings were issued by the Russians before the bombing. Earlier, the Russians carried out airstrikes on a maternity hospital and the Drama Theater in Mariupol, where Azov fighters were allegedly present.

Russians shelled the Sviatogorsk Lavra of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate in the Donetsk region on March 12, 2022. At that time, the force of the explosion blew out window frames in the churches, and windows and doors in Lavra's hotels were broken. There were 520 refugees in Lavra, including 200 children and brothers of the monastery. They were evacuated to the monastery cellars.

After the explosion, Metropolitan Arseniy of Sviatogorsk, vicar of the Lavra, recorded a video appeal, in which he called on everyone in charge to stop bombing peaceful people in the peaceful cities of Ukraine. He did not name the perpetrators of the war - the Russian military and Putin.

The last time the Russians shelled the city of Sviatogorsk was on the morning of April 27, the chairman of the Sviatogorsk community, Volodymyr Bandura, said. He asked residents of the community to temporarily evacuate by free buses and trains, as the situation in the city was tense and explosions could be heard in the outskirts.