Ukraine updates: Russia says several killed in Belgorod

In a sign of a growing rift between Kyiv and the Vatican, Pope Francis criticizedUkraine's decision to ban the national branch of the Russia-linked Orthodox Church.

On Saturday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed legislation outlawing the church over the Moscow Patriarch's support for Russia's full-scale invasion.

The pope told tens of thousands of believers in St Peter's Square that, "No Christian church may be abolished directly or indirectly. The churches must not be touched."

"In thinking of the law recently adopted in Ukraine, I fear for the liberty of those who pray," he added.

"One does not commit evil by praying. If someone does something evil to his people, he is guilty. But he can't have done anything bad by praying," Francis said.

Kyiv has previously accused the pope of taking sides with Russia, a charge the Vatican rejects.

The Ukrainian Orthodox Church was linked to Russia but cut ties with Moscow a few months after the conflict erupted in February 2022.

Ukrainian officials repeatedly accuse its clerics of staying loyal to Russia. 

An estimated 3 million worshippers are affected by the ban.

Russia staged overnight strikes on Kramatorsk, a city in eastern Ukraine, injuring two journalists and leaving another missing.

Ukrainian prosecutors said a Russian Iskander missile hit a hotel where the reporters were staying, causing damage to the building and a nearby high-rise.

"One of our colleagues is unaccounted for, while another two have been taken to hospital for treatment," the Reuters news agency said, adding that it was "urgently seeking more information."

Reuters said "three other colleagues have been accounted for" and said it was "working with the authorities in Kramatorsk, and supporting our colleagues and their families." 

Kramatorsk is the last major city under Ukrainian control in the Donetsk region and lies around 20 kilometers (13 miles) from the frontline.

It is often used as a base for aid workers and foreign journalists. 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he was open to India hosting a second summit for peace to end Russia's invasion of its neighbor.

Zelenskyy said he had told Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during talks in Kyiv on Friday that he hoped to find a host among countries in the Global South.

Although India was represented at the first conference in Switzerland in June, New Delhi declined a request to sign the joint communique at the end of the summit, which called for a "comprehensive, lasting and just peace" in Ukraine.

Several other, mostly BRICS nations — made up of the world's fastest-growing economies — also refused to sign the communique.

"I want to be frank, and this applies not only to India but to any state that would be positive about hosting a second summit. We will not be able to hold a peace summit in a country that has not yet joined the peace summit communique," Zelenskyy said.

More than 80 countries and international organizations endorsed Ukraine's territorial integrity in the face of Russia’s invasion.

Talks are currently going on with Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Turkey and Switzerland regarding hosting the second summit.

Six people were killed in Ukrainian strikes on Russia's border region of Belgorod, the local governor said.

A strike on the village of Rakitnoye left five people dead and wounded a dozen others, according to Belgorod Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov

He said 13 others were wounded, with six in a "serious condition," including a 16-year-old in intensive care.

Twelve residential buildings, two shops and seven cars were damaged in the bombardment.

Rakitnoye is just over 10 kilometers (6 miles) from the border with Ukraine.

Gladkov later wrote on the Telegram messaging app that a man was killed by a Ukrainian drone attack in the village of Solovyevka further south.

mm/wd (Reuters, AP, AFP, dpa)