Zuppi: Vatican has no plan to start talks on Ukraine

Zuppi at a meeting with Patriarch Kirill. Photo: ren.tv

The papal envoy for a “peace mission”, Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, who visited Moscow this week, said that the Vatican does not yet have a "plan that could facilitate the start of negotiations" on Ukraine, but is focused "on humanitarian initiatives and protecting the lives of innocent people," according to ilrestodelcarlino.it.

“Under the leadership of Pope Francis and together with him, in the coming days, we will reflect on what we heard in Moscow. That is why we do not yet have a plan that could facilitate the start of negotiations. We are very interested in the humanitarian issue and the protection of the lives of innocent people,” he said.

“There is no peace plan, no mediation, there is a significant desire for the violence to stop,” the hierarch added.

From June 28 to June 29, 2023, the cardinal paid a visit to Moscow. He met with Patriarch Kirill, Assistant to the President of the Russian Federation for Foreign Policy Affairs Yuri Ushakov and Commissioner for Children's Rights under the President of the Russian Federation Maria Lvova-Belova.

According to the press service of the Vatican, the purpose of the cardinal's trip was "to make a humanitarian contribution to the search for a way out of the current tragic situation in order to achieve a just peace."

Earlier, Cardinal Zuppi visited Kyiv, where he met with President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky and religious figures.

As the UOJ reported earlier, the Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church received the Vatican's negotiator in Moscow.

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