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KYIV, Ukraine — Ukrainian and allied officers criticized Pope Francis for saying that Kyiv ought to have the “braveness” to barter an finish to the conflict with Russia, an announcement many interpreted as a name for Ukraine to give up.
The international ministers of Ukraine and Poland, a vocal ally of Kyiv, each used World Battle II analogies to sentence the pope’s remarks. And a frontrunner of certainly one of Ukraine’s Christian church buildings on Sunday mentioned that solely the nation’s decided resistance to Moscow’s full-scale invasion, launched by Russian President Vladimir Putin on Feb. 24, 2022, had prevented a mass slaughter of civilians.
In an interview recorded final month with Swiss broadcaster RSI and partially launched on Saturday, Francis used the phrase “the braveness of the white flag” as he argued that Ukraine, dealing with a potential defeat, must be open to peace talks brokered by worldwide powers.
“Our flag is blue and yellow. We reside, die and win underneath it. We is not going to elevate different flags,” Ukrainian Overseas Minister Dmytro Kuleba posted on Sunday on X, previously generally known as Twitter.
Polish Overseas Minister Radek Sikorski tweeted: “How about, for stability, encouraging Putin to have the braveness to withdraw his military from Ukraine? Peace would instantly ensue with out the necessity for negotiations.”
Each diplomats appeared to attract parallels between these calling for negotiations whereas “denying (Ukraine) the means to defend itself” and European leaders’ “appeasement” of Adolf Hitler simply earlier than World Battle II.
In his tweet, Kuleba urged the Holy See to “not repeat historic errors” as he alleged that the Vatican did not do sufficient to withstand the Nazis throughout that battle. But he additionally invited Francis to Ukraine, saying the pope’s go to would present assist for the “greater than one million Ukrainian (Roman) Catholics, greater than 5 million Greek Catholics, all Christians and all Ukrainians.”
The top of Ukraine’s Greek Catholic Church, Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk, mentioned Sunday that give up isn’t on the minds of Ukrainians.
“Ukraine is exhausted, nevertheless it stands and can endure. Consider me, it by no means crosses anybody’s thoughts to give up. Even the place there may be preventing in the present day: hearken to our individuals in Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Odesa, Kharkiv, Sumy,” Shevchuk mentioned whereas assembly with Ukrainians in New York Metropolis. He talked about the areas which were underneath heavy Russian artillery and drone assaults.
Shevchuk additionally spoke of the brutality of Moscow’s invasion, referencing the city close to Kyiv the place Russian occupation left tons of of civilians useless within the streets and in mass graves. He argued that the grotesque scenes seen in Bucha would have been “simply an introduction” if not for Ukrainians’ fierce resistance as Russian troops marched on the capital in February 2022.
Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni on Saturday clarified that the pope supported “a cease to hostilities (and) a truce achieved with the braveness of negotiations,” relatively than an outright Ukrainian give up. Bruni mentioned that the journalist interviewing Francis used the time period “white flag” within the query that prompted the controversial remarks.
“I believe that the strongest one is the one who seems on the scenario, thinks in regards to the individuals and has the braveness of the white flag, and negotiates,” Francis mentioned, when requested to weigh in on the talk between those that say that Ukraine ought to comply with peace talks and those that argue that any negotiations would legitimize Moscow’s aggression.
Kyiv stays agency on not participating immediately with Russia on peace talks, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has mentioned a number of occasions that the initiative in peace negotiations should come from the nation that has been invaded.
All through the conflict, Francis has tried to keep up the Vatican’s conventional diplomatic neutrality, however that has usually been accompanied by obvious sympathy with the Russian rationale for invading Ukraine, equivalent to when he famous that NATO was “barking at Russia’s door” with its eastward growth.
Within the RSI interview, Francis insisted that “negotiations are by no means a give up.”
“While you see that you’re defeated, that issues are usually not going effectively, it’s important to have the braveness to barter,” he mentioned.
Throughout the Angelus prayer on Sunday from the window overlooking St. Peter’s Sq., Francis mentioned that he was praying “for peace within the tormented Ukraine and within the Holy Land.”
“Let the hostilities which trigger immense struggling among the many civilian inhabitants stop as quickly as potential,” he mentioned.
Elsewhere, each Ukraine and Russia reported civilian deaths on Sunday after in a single day buying and selling drone, missile and shelling assaults that additionally prompted a hearth at a Russian oil depot and focused Ukrainian energy stations, in accordance with officers.
Ukrainian air defenses in a single day shot down 35 out of 39 drones launched by Russia, air pressure commander Mykola Oleshchuk reported, following a 4½-hour barrage that officers mentioned additionally focused energy stations.
Two individuals died underneath rubble after Iranian-made Shahed drones round midnight struck non-public houses and state workplaces in Dobropillya, a big Ukrainian-held city within the east, authorities mentioned. A 66-year-old man was additionally reported killed by shelling in Chasiv Yar, northeast of Dobropillya.
In Myrnohrad, one other japanese Ukrainian city, 11 civilians have been wounded after Russian missiles in a single day struck residential buildings, the native prosecutor’s workplace reported. It additionally posted photographs of rubble lining the courtyard exterior a high-rise condo constructing, its home windows blown out, and of automobiles parked exterior that appeared lowered to piles of twisted metallic.
A girl additionally died in Russia’s Kursk area, which borders Ukraine, after shells fired from Ukraine set her home on fireplace, whereas her husband suffered extreme burns, native Gov. Roman Starovoit reported.
Starovoit additionally mentioned that particles from a downed Ukrainian drone sparked a hearth at an oil depot within the Kursk area.
9 Ukrainian drones focused the Belgorod area, one other southern Russian province that borders Ukraine, in a single day and on Sunday, in accordance with native Gov. Vyacheslav Gladkov. Later Sunday, Russia’s Protection Ministry mentioned that three drones in complete have been shot down over the northern Leningrad and Novgorod areas, effectively over 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) from the Ukrainian border. There have been no quick experiences of casualties.
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Nicole Winfield and Giada Zampano in Rome, and Vanessa Gera in Warsaw, Poland, contributed to this report.
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Observe AP’s protection of the conflict in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
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