President Volodymyr Zelensky in his nightly tackle Sunday responded to the Pope with out naming him.
Praising Ukrainian chaplains on the entrance line, Zelensky mentioned: “That is what the church is — it’s along with folks, not two and a half thousand kilometers away someplace, nearly mediating between somebody who needs to stay and somebody who needs to destroy you.”
International Minister Dmytro Kuleba urged the Vatican to help the Ukrainian folks “of their simply wrestle for his or her lives,” writing: “Our flag is blue and yellow. Underneath it, we stay, die, and triumph. We is not going to increase some other flags.” He thanked Francis for his prayers for peace and urged him to go to Ukraine.
The controversy prompted a clarification from the Vatican.
“The Pope makes use of the time period white flag, and responds by choosing up the picture proposed by the interviewer, to point a cessation of hostilities, a truce reached with the braveness of negotiation,” spokesman Matteo Bruni mentioned, including that the Pope acknowledged that negotiations are by no means a “give up.”
Ukraine’s allies, too, critiqued the remarks.
“How about, for stability, encouraging Putin to have the braveness to withdraw his military from Ukraine?” Polish International Minister Radek Sikorski wrote on X. “Peace would instantly ensue with out the necessity for negotiations.”