Úkraínskur maður réðst á Benediktínasystkini í Jarosław – einn prestur drepinn, sáska nigraddur
A 31-year-old Ukrainian citizen attacked people with a knife at a Benedictine sisters' monastery in Jarosław, Poland, on the morning of 24 September, killing at least one priest and injuring five other people. Polish police detained the suspect at the scene, and Ukraine's president and embassy in Warsaw condemned the attack and called for a swift investigation. The suspect entered Poland from Germany on the day of the attack, and his motives remain unknown.
Helstu atriði
- Knife attack occurred around 09:30 local time on 24 September at the Benedictine Sisters' Abbey on Benedyktyńska Street in Jarosław, Subcarpathian Voivodeship, Poland.
- Attacker was a 31-year-old Ukrainian citizen named Ihor M., detained by police at the scene; a knife was seized from him.
- Five people were injured: four men, including three priests, and one woman, all hospitalised.
- One priest, identified as Father Stanisław, died from his injuries.
- According to Polish prosecutors, the attacker entered Poland from Germany on 24 September and was heading toward the Korczowa border crossing but did not cross it.
- The knife used was taken from the monastery kitchen, prosecutors said, rejecting early reports of a machete.
- Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said the attacker would be punished with the full severity of Polish law.
- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called it a 'horrible crime', offered condolences and said the perpetrator must bear full responsibility under the law.
Hvers vegna þetta skiptir máli
The attack was carried out by a Ukrainian citizen at a Catholic monastery just 30 kilometres from the Ukrainian border, at a time when Polish-Ukrainian relations were already strained. It drew official responses from the presidents and prime ministers of both countries, raised warnings in Poland about a possible surge in anti-Ukrainian hostility, and prompted Polish suggestions that Russian involvement could not be ruled out, giving the event significant political and security dimensions.
Hvað gerðist
On the morning of 24 September, at approximately 09:30 local time (10:30 Kyiv time), a knife attack took place on the grounds of the Benedictine Sisters' Abbey on Benedyktyńska Street in Jarosław, Subcarpathian Voivodeship, Poland. The attacker, a 31-year-old Ukrainian citizen named Ihor M., was detained by police at the scene, and a knife was seized from him. According to investigators, the knife had been taken from the monastery's kitchen. Five people were injured in the attack: four men, including three priests, and one woman, all of whom were hospitalised. One priest, identified as Father Stanisław, died from his injuries. A blood sample was drawn from the suspect to test for alcohol or drugs, and Polish prosecutors said they had no information about the attacker's motives. According to prosecutors, the attacker had entered Poland from Germany on 24 September and was heading toward the Korczowa border crossing with Ukraine but did not cross it. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk stated that the attacker would be punished with the full severity of Polish law, and Interior Minister Marcin Kierwiński wrote on X that the suspect had been detained immediately after the attack. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called the incident a "horrible crime", offered condolences, and called for a swift and thorough investigation. The Embassy of Ukraine in Poland issued a statement condemning the attack and calling for responsibility to be determined solely under the law.
Hvernig erlendar heimildir lýsa atburðinum
International and German-language coverage focuses on the basic facts of the incident — location, time, the attacker's profile, the victims, and official Polish responses from Prime Minister Tusk, Interior Minister Kierwiński, and Jarosław Mayor Marcin Nazarewicz — with less prominence given to Ukrainian diplomatic messaging. The German-language report frames the attack geographically, noting its proximity to the Ukrainian border and the attacker's entry from Germany, sketching a transnational route into the event. Both the English agency report and the German-language piece lead with the killing itself and Polish law-enforcement assurances, presenting the event primarily as a Polish security and criminal matter rather than a bilateral diplomatic incident.
Hvar frásögnum ber ekki saman
Sources disagree on the number of priests killed: most early reports describe one priest, Father Stanisław, dead, while later reporting citing the Rzeszów Cathedral states two priests — Marek Pieńkowski and Stanisław Zbojnowicz — died. There is also disagreement on the weapon: some accounts and witnesses described a machete, but prosecutors explicitly rejected this and said it was a kitchen knife taken from the monastery. Witnesses said the attacker primarily targeted priests, striking them repeatedly with a long knife, but the prosecution said at the time of reporting that this targeting had not been confirmed. Polish Deputy Interior Minister Wiesław Leśniakiewicz said Russian involvement could not be ruled out, while Ukrainian Ambassador Vasyl Bodnar said preliminary information indicated no national motive behind the attack.
Baksvið
The Benedictine sisters' monastery in Jarosław had for years assisted Ukrainian war refugees arriving from Ukraine. Jarosław lies roughly 30 kilometres from the Ukrainian border in Subcarpathian Voivodeship. Polish-Ukrainian relations had been described in the reporting as deteriorating in the months before the attack, with an earlier knife attack by a Ukrainian teenager in Wrocław on 1 August cited as prior context, and an IBRiS poll cited in the reporting found 67.2% of Poles supporting the deportation of Ukrainian men without legal work.