Patriarch's armoured train, church-on-rail and Kolia Lukashenka

• 24.07.2013, 10:28

Ukraine marks the 1025th anniversary of the baptism of Rus on July 26, Friday.

Thousands of people are expected to come to Kyiv for an evening prayer in the Kiev Pechersk Lavra. The prayer service will be performed by Patriarch Kirill, who will spend two days n Ukraine, Segodnia (Ukraine) writes.

The head of the Russian Orthodix Church arrives from Moscow to Kyiv today at about 19:00-20:00. He uses a special train for high-ranking officials.

“There will be representatives of local orthodox churches on the train. St Andrew Cross, which will be delivered to Ukraine for the first time, is kept in a special chapel car. Services will be conducted all the way to Kyiv. The train will physically link three capitals – Moscow, Kyiv and Minsk,” spokesman for the Patriarch's press service Alexander Volkov said.

The special train is armoured.

“It is like a hotel-on-rails. Stalin has a similar one. It consists of five cars, the last one is a church. The Patriarch has a security team like Vladimir Putin has. A special schedule was worked out for the train. The train will have a special track,” Segonia learnt from sources in Ukrzaliznytsia, the Ukrainian railway company.

Patriarch Kirill is expected to arrive in Minsk on the morning of July 29.

Aliaksandr Lukashenka with his son Kolia will visit the festivities in Kyiv. They will stay at a guest residence in Kyiv. Kolia and his dad as well as the presidents of Russia, Ukraine, Moldova, Serbia and a representative of the Pope will attend the solemn service on July 27.