Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said the perpetrator of the “evil” stabbing at a Polish convent which left a priest dead must “bear full responsibility in accordance with the law”. A 31-year-old Ukrainian citizen was arrested in connection with the attack, which occurred on September 24 at a Benedictine convent in Jarosław, south-eastern Poland.

Later on the same day, Zelenskyy released a statement on X written in Polish in which he expressed his “deepest condolences” to the family of the deceased priest, who was identified as Fr Stanisław Zbojnowicz.

“A horrific crime at the Benedictine Sisters’ Abbey in Jarosław, committed by a Ukrainian citizen. We are shaken by this evil. According to the information available so far, a Catholic priest was killed and several other people were injured,” he wrote.

“We extend our deepest condolences to the family and loved ones of the deceased. We wish all those injured a speedy recovery. The perpetrator of this evil must bear full responsibility in accordance with the law. We count on a swift and thorough investigation of all the circumstances.

“It is painful that people are capable of such evil crimes. Justice must be done.”

According to Jarosław County Police, a man had stabbed four men and a woman on the grounds of the abbey. A spokeswoman for the District Prosecutor’s Office in Przemyśl, Małgorzata Taciuch-Kurasiewicz, stated that “both lay people and clergy” who attended Mass were involved in the incident.

The assailant had reportedly used a knife taken from the kitchen of the monastery to attack his victims, including one priest who was hearing Confession. Bozena Harasz-Woloszyn, speaking for the District Prosecutor's Office in Przemyśl, said the man arrested in connection with the attack had entered Poland from Germany earlier on Thursday.

“Three of the victims are clergy members and ‌two ⁠are laypeople; one person has died,” she said, confirming that one of the victims was in a “critical, life-threatening condition”.

Sr Barbara Dendor ​told ⁠the Polish state broadcaster TVP Info that when she arrived there was “total ​panic”. “Young people who had ​come ⁠out of the centre witnessed it. They were saying, ‘some madman, some madman’,” she said.

Poland’s Interior Minister, Marcin Kierwiński, described the events as “tragic” and announced that a Ukrainian citizen was “immediately detained by police” following the attack. He added that psychological support was being provided on-site to those who witnessed the murder.

“The services are investigating the motives and circumstances of the incident,” he said.

In response to the attack, the Jarosław crisis management team had notified schools, offices and parishes and told them to remain vigilant when allowing people entrance into their buildings. Mayor Marcin Nazarewicz stated that schools in the town had been advised not to let children outside.