Ukraine, March 13, 2022: A Russian bomb landed near a Ukrainian Orthodox monastery sheltering refugees just hours after President Volodymyr Zelensky said he’s ready to hold peace talks with Russia in Jerusalem.

Svyatogorsk Lavra, an Orthodox Christian monastery in the Donetsk region that has sheltered more than 500 people since the invasion began last month, including 200 children, was rocked by the explosion when a bomb landed just over 54 yards away from a bridge at the entrance to the monastery, injuring several people, The Daily Mail reported.

On its website the monastery said the force of the explosion blew out windows and doors, and while several people had to be taken to the hospital in nearby Svyatogorsk fortunately no one was killed.

Images shared online show the debris left by the explosion that blew out windows and doors and ripped shingles off the roof.

The monastery said several people had to be transported to a hospital in Svyatogorsk, and while several people were injured non had died.

“On the night of March 12-13, all the refugees and brethren were evacuated to the monastery cellars. Currently, there are 520 refugees in the Svyatogorsk Lavra, 200 of them are children. There are about 10,000 refugees and local residents in the city of Svyatogorsk.

“The administration of the city of Svyatogorsk will soon be engaged in the restoration of energy supply in the city of Svyatogorsk and in the Lavra, which is vital, because. heating of the entire monastery complex depends on electricity.

“The leadership of the Lavra informs that there were no military formations on the territory of the monastery and the city. The blow was inflicted on a peaceful city,” it ended.

Pavlo Kyrylenko, the governor of Donetsk Oblast, Pavlo said 1,000 people were sheltering in the monastery at the time of the blast.

In a post on Facebook he said: “As a result, one person was hospitalized to the hospital, two addressed the trauma in Sloviansk on their own; another 30 people with minor injuries were provided on the spot. Damaged infrastructure around the Lavra, damaged private property.”

“The occupants [Russians] have crossed all possible limits of common sense and humanity. Should get the proper punishment for their hellish crimes!”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he’s ready to hold peace talks with Russia in Jerusalem, which would be a constructive place with Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett as a mediator, even as Russian President Vladimir Putin showed no willingness to accept a ceasefire when French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz spoke to him.

Earlier on March 12, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he was ready to hold peace talks with Russia in Jerusalem with Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett as a mediator, even after Russian President Vladimir Putin showed no willingness to accept a ceasefire when French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz spoke to him.

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