«I thank every Ukrainian chaplain who is in the army , in the Defense Forces. They are on the front lines, protecting life and humanity, supporting with prayer, dialogue and actions . This is what the Church is: it is together with people, not somewhere, two thousand five hundred kilometers away, virtually mediating between someone who wants to live and someone who wants to destroy you."

Volodymyr Zelensky responds bluntly to Pope Francis' appeal to negotiate for peace in Ukraine by expressing Kiev's indignation, which is not willing to accept surrender . «Russian murderers and torturers do not move towards Europe just because they are held by the Ukrainians with weapons and under the blue and yellow flag», added the Ukrainian president, who thus sends back to the sender the Pontiff's proposal to have the « courage of the white flag" to deal with Moscow, already condemned by Dmytro Kuleba: the Ukrainian flag is the one "with which we live, die and win. We will never raise other flags," said Kiev's foreign minister .

"Russian madness must lose this war and we will do everything for this," Zelensky had previously stated, but he did not directly quote the Holy Father, with whom the distance is now sidereal.

Kuleba however "thanked His Holiness Pope Francis for his constant prayers for peace", also reiterated in the last Angelus. But rather than making calls for surrender, "the Pope should find the opportunity to make an apostolic visit to Ukraine", said the minister, relaunching the invitation once again.

Meanwhile, Moscow is gloating: "Every expert, every politician, every diplomat today understands" that the situation in Ukraine "is at a dead end", commented the spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova, according to whom the Pontiff is not speaking in Kiev, but to the West, which "has failed", to ask it to "put aside its ambitions and admit that it was wrong".

(Unioneonline/vl)

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