Pope Leo XIV received the Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelenski and his wife Olena Zelenska in private audience, shortly after the Plaza de San Pedro spoke of a “martyred Ukraine” who expects “negotiations for just and lasting peace.”
«Thank you for the patience in waiting. He had to greet all the delegations »who attended the inaugural Mass of the pontificate, the Pope told them in the video broadcast by the Vatican after his visit, during which gifts were exchanged as part of the protocol.
“Ukraine finally expects negotiations for just and lasting peace,” said the Pope in the Plaza de San Pedro at the end of the Mass that marked the beginning of his pontificate, in the presence of a multitude of heads of state.
The Ukrainian president, in a message posted on Telegram, said he was “grateful for the special words” of the Pontiff.
“Every country deserves to live in peace and security,” said Zelenski.
Russia launched on Saturday night an attack with a record number of drones against many Ukraine regions, including the kyiv capital, two days after the first peace conversations since 2022 that did not reach a truce.
Zelenski met Sunday in Rome with the American vice president JD Vance, occasion they talked about the expected Monday call between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, after the unsuccessful conversations between Moscow and kyiv in Turkey.
In Rome, Zelenski and Vance attended the inaugural Mass of Pope Leo XIV in the morning, before maintaining, together with the US secretary of state Marco Rubio, a meeting of “about half an hour” that a senior Ukrainian official described as “normal.”
According to this source, they talked about “the situation in the front, of the preparations for Monday’s conversation (between Putin and Trump), the possibility of sanctions against Russia if there are no results and a stop to the fire.”
On Saturday, the US president announced that on Monday he would talk on the phone with his Russian counterpart to “end the ‘blood bath’.” The Kremlin later confirmed that he was “preparing” this call.
Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff said Sunday at the ABC chain that he expected a “fruitful” conversation between both leaders.
“The president is determined to obtain results on Ukraine, he added, before warning:” If he cannot, no one can. “
Zelenski reiterated on social networks that “the pressure on Russia must continue until it is willing to end the war,” and mentioned its “good” meeting with Vance and Rubio.
Leo XIV also mentioned in Sunday’s religious trade the humanitarian catastrophe in the Gaza Strip, due to bombings and blocking humanitarian aid to the territory by Israel as part of his offensive against Hamas.
«We cannot forget the brothers and sisters who suffer from war. In Gaza, children, families, the elderly who survive suffer from hunger, ”said the Pope.
After the blockade of negotiations to prolong a truce that lasted two months, Israel resumed on March 18 its bombings in the Gaza Strip.
In addition, since March 2, it blocks the entry of any vital humanitarian aid for the population of the territory.
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