Pope Francis received the ambassador of Ukraine to the Holy See, Andrii Yurash, in audience this morning in the Vatican. This was reported by the Bulletin of the Vatican Press Office.
The meeting was set to agree on the possibility and modalities of the trip that the Pontiff intends to make to Kiev , the Vatican secretary for relations with states, mgr. Paul Richard Gallagher.
"I am very close to Ukraine and I want to express this closeness with my visit", said the Pontiff according to Yurash: "Ukraine for many years and especially since the beginning of the war has been waiting for the Pope and will be happy to greet him before the his trip to Kazakhstan ", Yurash guarantees. The trip should be done in September.
Meanwhile, tension remains high at the Ukrainian nuclear power plant in Zaporizhzhia , under the control of Russian forces: "One of the reactors was shut down, yesterday's bombing caused a serious risk for the safe operation of the plant", the company said today. Ukrainian for atomic energy Energoatom, following the attacks that Kiev and Moscow accuse each other of having launched.
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The day by the hour:
2.30 pm - 600 civilians evacuated from Donetsk in 24 hours
More than 600 civilians have been evacuated from the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine in the past 24 hours, the direction of the region's state emergency service said on Facebook, according to Ukrinform. Overall, 601 people were evacuated, including 22 children, the message reads. Since the invasion began on February 24, 9,590 people have been evacuated from the Donetsk and Lugansk regions.
