By JON GAMBRELL
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — A prime Vatican envoy and his entourage got here underneath hearth as they have been distributing humanitarian provides in Ukraine, the Vatican information service mentioned on Sunday, however reported no accidents.
The incident happened close to town of Zaporizhzhia on Saturday and compelled Vatican Almoner Cardinal Konrad Krajewski and others to take cowl.
“For the primary time in my life, I didn’t know the place to run. As a result of it's not sufficient to run, you must know the place to go,” mentioned the Polish-born cardinal, whose place makes charitable contributions within the title of the pope.
Russian shelling hit cities and cities throughout a large stretch of Ukraine in the course of the evening, officers mentioned Sunday, whereas the British protection ministry warned that Russia is prone to improve its assaults on civilian targets because it suffers battlefield defeats.
“Within the final seven days, Russia has elevated its focusing on of civilian infrastructure even the place it most likely perceives no fast navy impact,” the ministry mentioned in a web based briefing. “Because it faces setbacks on the entrance strains, Russia has possible prolonged the places it's ready to strike in an try and straight undermine the morale of the Ukrainian folks and authorities.”
Prosecutors in Kharkiv are accusing Russia of torturing civilians in a single village that was just lately freed.
In a web based assertion, they mentioned they discovered a basement the place Russian forces allegedly tortured prisoners within the village of Kozacha Lopan, close to the border with Russia.
In photos they launched, they confirmed a Russian navy TA-57 phone with extra wires and alligator clips hooked up to it. Ukrainian officers have accused Russian forces of utilizing the Soviet-era radio telephones as an influence supply to shock prisoners throughout interrogation. It was not instantly attainable to confirm the Ukrainians’ claims.
Russian hearth killed 4 medics trying to evacuate a psychiatric hospital within the Kharkiv area on Saturday, mentioned governor Oleh Syniehubov. Two sufferers have been wounded within the assault within the village of Strelecha, he mentioned.
In a single day shelling additionally hit a hospital within the metropolis of Mykolaiv, a major Black Sea port, regional governor Vitaliy Kim mentioned. He mentioned there was additionally shelling in different components of the area, and two folks have been wounded.
Three folks have been wounded in nighttime shelling of town of Nikopol, which is throughout the river from Europe’s largest nuclear energy station, mentioned regional governor Valentyn Reznichenko.
The six-reactor Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Energy Plant was captured by Russian forces in March, however is operated by Ukrainian engineers. Its final reactor was switched off every week in the past after repeated energy failures as a result of shelling put essential security programs in danger.
5 folks have died over the previous day in Russian assaults within the Donetsk area, considered one of two Ukrainian areas that Russia acknowledges as sovereign states, governor Pavlo Kyrylenko mentioned.
The separatist forces that management a lot of Donetsk on Sunday claimed that Ukrainian shelling of a prisoner-of-war colony in Olenivka killed one prisoner and injured 4.
Greater than 50 POWs have been reported killed in a July assault on the Olenivka jail that Russian and Ukrainian authorities blame on one another.
A Washington-based assume tank, the Institute for the Research of Conflict, mentioned Russian forces in Donetsk proceed to conduct “meaningless operations” on villages versus reinforcing the entrance line.
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Observe AP’s protection of the conflict at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine