Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will make a “lightning visit” to Rome over the weekend, where he will meet with Pope Francis and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. It is reported by RBC with reference to the ANSA agency.
“Perhaps on Saturday, the Pope will meet with the Ukrainian president,” one of the agency’s interlocutors said.
Another source specified that Zelenskiy could also meet with Prime Minister Georgia Meloni the next day.
According to Reuters sources, Zelensky will meet with the Pope on Friday.
After the start of the Russian special operation, Italy joined the sanctions against Moscow and provided Ukraine with five packages of military assistance. Meloni, after winning elections in October, urged not to succumb to “Putin’s blackmail” in energy and declared Rome’s desire to play a leading role in the restoration of post-war Ukraine. At the same time, she spoke of her readiness to become a guarantor of peace in Ukraine.
The Pope has said the same. In October, the pontiff asked Russian President Vladimir Putin to “stop this spiral of violence and death, including for the sake of his own people,” and Zelensky to “be open to serious proposals for peace.”
In early May, Francis announced that the Vatican was participating in a peacekeeping mission in the framework of the conflict in Ukraine. “I am ready to do whatever needs to be done. Now the mission is in process, but it is not yet public. When it becomes public, I will talk about it, ”he said then.
Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova then said that Russia had not received concrete proposals from the Vatican on a peaceful settlement in Ukraine. A CNN source close to Zelensky’s administration said Kyiv was not aware of the “secret peacekeeping mission” of the Holy See.
Source: Rosbalt
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