Russian President Vladimir Putin thanked Pope Leo for offering to help settle the Ukraine conflict and told him Kyiv is intent on ‘escalating’ the war, the Kremlin said yesterday.
A Kremlin statement said they spoke by phone but did not give a date. US President Donald Trump has said the pope offered to host Russia-Ukraine negotiations at the Vatican. “Gratitude was expressed to the Pontiff for his readiness to help settle the crisis, in particular the Vatican’s participation in resolving difficult humanitarian issues on a depoliticised basis,” the statement said.
The Kremlin restated that the conflict’s ‘root causes’ must be addressed, a reference to Russian demands that Ukraine adopt a neutral status and Nato rule out eastward expansion.
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