Quotables

“I had to pray. Anyone would be praying there.”

MYKHAILO IVANOVYCH, 67, who told the BBC how he suffered 12 days of torture, including electrocution and beatings with a pipe, from Russian occupiers inside a police station in the Ukrainian city of Izyum before it was liberated on Sept. 11.

“We believe that this sacrifice washes away all the sins that a person has committed.”

PATRIARCH KIRILL, leader of the Russian Orthodox Church, suggesting that Russian soldiers who die while fighting against Ukraine will be absolved of their sins.

“We are not criminals, we have the money, but [the banks] are stealing it.”

SALI HAFIZ, a 28-year-old Lebanese woman who has been lauded as a hero by many in her country after she held up a bank with a toy gun to withdraw money from her own account to pay for her sister’s cancer treatments. The country’s banks have restricted withdrawals amid a severe financial crisis.

“I feel that I can only be very active and pay attention in the morning up to 11 a.m.”

HELLENA, a 17-year-old South Sudanese schoolgirl, who told an Al Jazeera reporter how she is struggling in school because her family only has pumpkin leaves to eat once a day following a dry summer.