A Ukrainian national has gone on a stabbing rampage at a monastery in Poland, leaving one priest dead and four others, including churchgoers, injured.

According to local media outlet TVP and other sources, a 31-year-old Ukrainian was arrested after wielding a knife around 9:30 a.m. on the 24th local time at a Benedictine monastery in Jaroslaw, southeastern Poland.

Among the five victims stabbed, three—including the deceased priest—were members of the clergy, while two were laypeople, according to reports.

Bozena Harasimowicz, a spokesperson for the Przemysl Prosecutor's Office, stated that two of the injured are in critical condition.

Witnesses reported that the deceased priest was stabbed while inside a confessional.

Prosecutors said the suspect entered Poland from Germany earlier that morning and committed the crime while heading toward a border checkpoint leading to Ukraine.

Jaroslaw is located about 30 kilometers from the Ukrainian border.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wrote on X, "A Ukrainian citizen committed a horrific crime. We are deeply shocked by this evil."

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk stated, "He will face the harshest punishment permitted by Polish law."

Approximately 1.7 million Ukrainians live in Poland, about 1 million of whom are refugees who relocated following the outbreak of the war in Ukraine.

Recently, violent crimes have occurred successively between citizens of the two countries.

On August 1, an 18-year-old Ukrainian stabbed a 30-year-old Polish woman, leaving her in critical condition in Wroclaw, southwestern Poland. On August 22, a 47-year-old Pole fatally stabbed a 52-year-old Ukrainian national on a street in Chorzow, southern Poland.

(Photo: AP, Yonhap News)