Pope Francis made an unexpected statement in support of negotiations between Ukraine and Russia to end the war. According to him, you need to find the courage to raise the "white flag".
What the Pope said about the negotiations between Ukraine and Russia
Thus, Reuters received a recording of the Pope's interview for the Swiss TV channel RSI, which took place in February and is to be published on March 20. The recording contains a fragment of an interview where the pontiff answers a question about whether Ukraine needs to raise a "white flag" and go to negotiations with the Russian Federation, despite the fact that many say that this will legitimize Moscow's aggression.
This is one of the interpretations, it is true. But I think that the strongest is the one who looks at the situation, thinks about the people, has the courage to raise the "white flag" and conducts negotiations, Francis said, adding that the negotiations should be mediated by other countries.
According to the Pope, one of these mediators could be Turkey.
You can feel shame. But how many people died in the end? It is necessary to conduct negotiations. Do not hesitate to negotiate before the situation worsens, he stressed.
However, the pontiff offers not only Ukraine's war with the Russian Federation to be settled through negotiations. In another part of the interview, which referred to Israel's conflict with Hamas militants, Francis said that "negotiations are not surrender."
The pontiff previously advocated a diplomatic settlement, but for the first time actually called on Ukraine to surrender. The Ukrainian authorities have not yet commented on the Pope's statement.
Pushing Ukraine to negotiations with the Russian Federation
During the two years of full-scale Russian aggression, Ukraine has been tried several times to push for negotiations with the Russian Federation. A new phase of nudging has begun recently. In particular, China once again sent its special representative responsible for "diplomatic settlement" to Russia, Ukraine and the EU.
And yesterday, after a meeting with the Ukrainian president, the head of Turkey, Recep Erdogan, offered to hold a "peaceful" summit with the participation of Ukraine and the Russian Federation. Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky rejected such a proposal and invited Turkey to participate in the Global Peace Summit initiated by Ukraine.
