“In the Nikolo-Vasilyevsky monastery of the Volnovakhsky district of the DPR, neo-Nazis blocked more than 450 civilians, including children, women with babies, the elderly and seriously ill people connected to life support devices, cancer patients and insulin-dependent,” the ministry said in a statement.

It is noted that the monastery itself and the only road leading to it are constantly subjected to mortar attacks, there are dead and wounded.

Due to the dense fire, it is almost impossible to deliver vital medicines and food to the monastery or evacuate the population.

Earlier, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said that at the moment it is impossible to achieve a global ceasefire in Ukraine.

The Investigative Committee of Russia opened new criminal cases on the facts of massive shelling of settlements in the Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics.

Over the past day, three DPR servicemen were killed, and more than 15 were injured.