Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that he had spoken to Pope Francis on the phone on Tuesday. Zelenskyy would welcome Vatican mediation to end the suffering in his country, he wrote on Twitter on 22 March. Zelenskyy said he told the Pope “about the difficult humanitarian situation and the blocking of rescue corridors by Russian troops.”
The Ukrainian president also said that “the mediating role of the Holy See in ending human suffering would be appreciated” and thanked the Pope “for the prayers for Ukraine and peace.”
Zelenskyy also referenced his call with Pope Francis during a speech to the Italian parliament on 22 March.
The president said that Pope Francis told him: “I understand that you desire peace. I understand that you must defend yourselves, soldiers and civilians defend their country, each one defends.”
“And I responded,” Zelenskyy recalled, that “our people have become the army, [they became] the army when they saw the evil their enemy does, what devastation it has left.”
Zelenskyy said that in the conflict with Russia, at least 117 children have been killed, thousands wounded, tens of thousands of families destroyed, and millions of homes abandoned.
“And all of this started from one person,” he said.