Russia says Pope's appeal to war in Ukraine is for West

Pope Franescu has said Ukraine must have what he called the courage of “the white flamer” and negotiate an end of the war with Russia that followed Moscow's large-scale invasion two years ago and which killed tens of thousands.

“As I see it, the Pope is asking the West to put aside his ambitions and admit that it was a mistake”, the ANSA news agency quoted Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova as saying.

Zakharova said the West is using Ukraine as an instrument of its ambitions to weaken Russia.

As for Russia, “we have never blocked negotiations”, she said, adding that the situation in Ukraine was “in a dead end”.

President Vladimir Putin sent thousands of troops to Ukraine in February 2022, causing a full-scale war after eight years of conflict in eastern Ukraine between Ukrainian forces on the one hand and pro-Russian Ukrainians and Russian representatives on the other.

Putin says that immediately after sending troops to Ukraine, Moscow and Kiev almost agreed to a ceasefire, but that he was tortured by Britain.

Reuters reported last month that Putin's suggestion of a ceasefire in Ukraine to freeze the war was rejected by the United States after contacts between mediators broadcast Clankosova.tv.

Putin views Ukraine's war as a existential battle between Russian holy civilisation and an arrogant West, which he says is in decline cultural, political and economic, and who tried to humiliate Russia after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991.

The West considers Putin's conquest as an imperial-style land kidnapping challenging the post-Cold War international order and pits Russia against the West.

Ukraine says it is fighting for its existence and will not rest until every last Russian soldier is expelled from its territory.