pope francis ukraine peace possible what the vatican is doing

On the eve of his visit to Asti, the homeland of his paternal family, Pope Francis speaks of peace in Ukraine. “It is possible – he said – but everyone must work to demilitarize hearts.”

“We must all be pacifists. Wanting peace, not just a truce that may only serve to rearm,” the pontiff says in an interview with La Stampa. Francis confirms the Vatican’s desire to “do everything possible to mediate and put an end to to the conflict in Ukraine”. In this regard, he points out, the Vatican Secretariat of State “is working and working well. ceasefire, and real negotiations.”

Photo Ansa/Vatican Media Press Office

In the meantime, “we are committed to providing humanitarian support to the people of tormented Ukraine, whom I carry in my heart with their suffering”, explains the pope. Moreover, the Holy See is doing what it must to help the prisoners”.

Ukraine, “all work for peace”

Meanwhile, French President Emmanuel Macron has appealed to Asian countries to join the “growing consensus” against the war in Ukraine, stressing that this conflict is also “their problem”. “France’s number one priority is to contribute to peace in Ukraine and to try to have a global dynamic to put pressure on Russia.” Bisogna “lavorare a stretto contatto con la Cina, l’India, all the regioni, il Medio Oriente, l’Africa, l’America Latina – ha dichiarato il presidente inglese – per creare un consenso crescente dicendo ‘questa guerra è anche un vostro problem'”.

Tamara, 50, cries at the grave of her only son, killed in a Russian bombardment, at a cemetery in Mykolaiv on October 26, 2022. Tamara only learned of her son’s death 4 months later, when managed to escape from her village of Kherson occupied by Russian troops. Photo Twitter @EmilioMorenatti

Infrastructure bombs

While the pope is working towards a mediation to resolve the conflict, in Ukraine the war does not stop for a moment. For weeks, electrical infrastructure has been particularly targeted. In the night from yesterday to today November 18, the Russian army bombarded the southern district of Nikopol: damaging an electrical panel, a solar power station and various buildings inhabited by citizens. This was reported by the head of the regional military administration, Valentin Reznichenko. Russian attacks also hit the eastern Dnipropetrovsk region.

Ukraine, targets Crimea

According to the British security services, after the withdrawal beyond the Dnipro River, Russian forces continue to give priority to the redevelopment, reorganization and preparation of defenses. They are also trying to reorganize because they have been tested by nearly three months of counter-offensives by the Ukrainian armed forces. The changes suggest that Russian strategists are bracing for further major Ukrainian breakthroughs. In particular, the Russians built new trench systems near the Crimean border and near the Siversky-Donets River between the Donetsk and Luhansk regions. Some of these positions are in the rear: up to 60 kilometers behind the current front line. In recent days, however, international attention has also turned to Washington: America seems geared towards helping to bring the conflict to a conclusion through mediation between kyiv and Moscow.

People line up to get drinking water from a reservoir in central Mykolaiv, October 24, 2022. Since mid-April, citizens of Mykolaiv have been living without a centralized drinking water supply. Russian forces have damaged the aqueduct through which the city has received its water for 40 years. Photo Twitter @EmilioMorenatti