Victorious news of 320th day of war: Ukrainian woman receives Olof Palme Prize, Russian bombing of Ukraine is “crime against God”, AFU's achievements

Ukrainian border guards repelled five Russian attacks in the Bakhmut direction

“With the support of artillery, the enemy five times tried to storm various positions of the border units involved in the defense in the Bakhmut direction. However, it was in vain. The border guards repelled all attacks with fire from small arms and group weapons,” Ukraine's State Border Service noted. 

The Lviv human rights defender received the Olof Palme Prize

The Lviv human rights defender received a prestigious international award previously awarded to Václav Havel, Anna Politkovskaya and Kofi Annan. 

The Olof Palme Prize is awarded annually for outstanding achievements in human rights activities. Feminist, gender expert and psychologist from Lviv, deputy head and project manager of the Women's Perspectives Center Marta Chumalo (far left in the photo) became the first Ukrainian woman to win this prestigious award.

In addition to Marta Chumalo, Turkish human rights defender Eren Keskin (pictured in the middle) and Iranian journalist Narges Mohammadi (far right in the photo) also received it.

Pope Francis called the bombing of Ukraine “a crime against God and humanity”

Pope Francis made his remarks in his annual address to diplomats.

The Pope spoke about “the war in Ukraine with its consequences of death and destruction, with its attacks on civilian infrastructure, as a result of which people die not only from gunfights and acts of violence, but also from hunger and frost.”

He then cited the Vatican constitution, declaring that “every act of war aimed at the indiscriminate destruction of entire cities or large territories with their inhabitants is a crime against God and humanity that deserves firm and unequivocal condemnation.”

Two Ukrainian women received the right to referee matches of the World Cup

In the list of 53 referees published by the International Federation of Football Association (FIFA), there were two Ukrainian women.  Kateryna Monzul will work as the main referee at the tournament in Australia and New Zealand. Maryna Striletska will perform the functions of an assistant.

Kateryna Monzul will referee World Cup matches for the third time in her career. She also worked at the 2015 WC, where she served the final, and at the 2019 WC.

In 2022, Monzul became the first Ukrainian to referee the final of the Women's Euro. Since 2016, she has been working at the matches of the men's championship of Ukraine in the Premier League.

Military doctors performed a unique surgery under the supervision of sappers

Military doctors and the most experienced surgeon of Ukraine's Armed Forces, Andriy Verba, removed an unexploded grenade from the body of a military soldier in the presence of sappers.

It is noted that the grenade could detonate at any moment, so the surgery was performed without electrocoagulation and under the supervision of two sappers who ensured the safety of medical personnel.

Ukrainian aviation made 17 strikes on the Russian forces' military positions

Ukrainian aviation launched 17 strikes on the Russian forces' military positions and 3 strikes on the positions of the enemy's anti-aircraft missile systems. This was reported by the Ukrainian Armed Forces' General Staff. 

At the same time, units of missile troops and artillery of the Ukrainian Defense Forces hit one control point and one area of the Russian manpower.

In addition, according to the General Staff, up to 300 Russian soldiers were sent to the Lysychansk hospital, Luhansk region, only in the first week of this year.