Vatican city / Kyiv - Cardinal Konrad Krajewski, Prefect of the new Dicastery for the Service of Charity, is scheduled to visit Ukraine for the fourth time on behalf of the Holy Father as per a statement released by the Holy See on Wednesday.

Cardinal Konrad Krajewski marking his fourth visit to the war torn-nation since the Russian will travel to Odessa, Žytomyr, Kharkiv and other places in eastern Ukraine. The visit will bring closeness and support to various communities of faithful, priests and religious, and their bishops, who for more than 200 days continue to remain in the places of their ministry despite the dangers of war.

The statement describes the cardinal's visit as "a silent and evangelical journey, to be with the people who are suffering, to pray and comfort each one of them".

On the Warfront
Ukrainian forces on Friday took control of a sizeable village in the country’s east. One viral image showed troops holding up a Ukrainian flag at a highway welcome sign for Kupiansk, previously more than 50 km inside Russia's front line, a vital strategic target as the junction of several of the main railway lines supplying Russian troops at the front.

The United States’ top diplomat and the head of NATO cautioned that the war is likely to drag on for months.

Anxiety increased about the six-reactor Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant Europe’s largest, which was operating in emergency mode on Friday for the fifth straight day due to the war. It is receiving power for its own safety systems from the only reactor, out of a total six, remains operational. The U.N. atomic watchdog’s head called for the establishment of an immediate safety zone around the plant to prevent a nuclear accident.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, who met with Blinken, said the war is “entering a critical phase.”