Pope Francis: Conflict in Ukraine was provoked by other states

In an interview with the Corriere Della Sera newspaper, Pope Francis said that other states had provoked the conflict in Ukraine but did not specify which ones. The head of the RCC compared the warfare with other conflicts, which, according to him, were also caused by the international interests of other countries: "Syria, Yemen, Iraq, successive wars in Africa." In his opinion, the war in Ukraine is reminiscent of the twentieth-century civil wars in Spain and Rwanda.

The Pope called Russia's attitude towards Ukraine "rage, which, if not provoked, was exacerbated by the presence of structures of the North Atlantic Alliance in neighboring countries." He also mentioned "NATO barking at Russia's borders."

In an interview, the head of the RCC questioned the necessity to supply weapons to Ukraine.

“I don’t know <...> whether it’s right to supply Ukrainians with weapons,” he said, adding that during the war in Ukraine, “weapons are being tested on this land… Wars are fought in order to test weapons.”

As the UOJ wrote, the Pope said he had to meet with Putin before going to Kyiv.

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