Russia-Ukraine war live: Zelenskiy attacks ‘virtual mediation’ after pope says Kyiv should ‘raise white flag’

Zelenskiy hits back at pope saying Ukraine should ‘raise white flag’ and end war with Russia

Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, on Sunday dismissed Pope Francis’s call for talks with Russia as “virtual mediation” from a distance.

In an interview broadcast on Saturday by Swiss television, but which the Vatican said was conducted in February, the pontiff urged parties in Russia’s war against Ukraine to “have the courage to negotiate”, and do so “before things get worse”.

The 87-year-old pope was asked by RTS about a debate within Ukraine on whether to surrender to Russia’s invasion.

“I believe that the strongest are those who see the situation, think about the people, and have the courage to raise the white flag and negotiate,” he said.

“That word negotiate is a brave word. When you see that you are defeated, that things are not working out, you have to have the courage to negotiate.”

Pope says Ukraine should ‘raise white flag’ and end war with Russia – video

Zelenskiy, in his nightly video address, did not refer directly to Francis or his remarks, but said the pope’s ideas had nothing to do with efforts by religious figures in Ukraine to help the country.

“They support us with prayer, with their discussion and with deeds. This is indeed what a church with the people is,” Zelenskiy said. “Not 2,500 km away, somewhere, virtual mediation between someone who wants to live and someone who wants to destroy you.”

A Vatican spokesperson later said the pope was speaking of stopping the fighting through negotiation, not capitulation.

The Kremlin seized on the pontiff’s remarks, with the Russian foreign ministry’s spokesperson, Maria Zakharova, saying: “The way I see it, the pope is asking the west to put aside its ambitions and admit that it was wrong.”

Key events

Italy’s defence minister, Guido Crosett, has expressed his opposition to the idea of deploying western troops to Ukraine, arguing that would stand in the way of diplomacy, the Italian newspaper La Stampa reported.

Last month, Emmanuel Macron faced criticism from France’s Nato and EU partners and a warning of conflict from Russia after he suggested it might be necessary to send ground troops to Ukraine.

A cryptocurrency firm transferred digital assets worth more than $4.2m to a crypto wallet belonging to a member of an alleged Russian arms-dealing network who was later hit with US sanctions, it can be revealed.

Details of the transactions involving Copper Technologies raise questions about whether UK laws governing crypto have adapted quickly enough to keep pace with a rapidly evolving sector that has come under increasing scrutiny over the level of anonymity it can provide.

Analysis of crypto records by the Guardian and the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) highlights a connection between one of the most prominent cryptocurrency companies and Jonatan Zimenkov, an Israeli-born Russian national.

Zimenkov, 29, was subjected to US sanctions in February 2023 for allegedly assisting the Russian military with the invasion of Ukraine, as part of the “Zimenkov network” – an arms-dealing and sanctions evasion network headed by his father, Igor Zimenkov.

You can read the full story by my colleagues, Rob Davies and Matei Rosca, here:

The leaders of Japan and the US will meet in Washington DC on 10 April to “strengthen the joint production system” for defence equipment in order to ship more arms to Ukraine, according to the Japanese news outlet, Yomiuri.

The Kyiv Independent reports:

Japan amended its laws in December 2023 to allow certain weapons transfers back to their countries of origin, paving the way for Japan to replenish U.S. stocks as Washington supplies arms to Ukraine.

The US president, Joe Biden, and Japanese prime minister, Fumio Kishida, will meet in Washington on 10 April. The main theme of the summit, according to Yomiuri, will be strengthening defence industry cooperation between the two countries.

The US defence industry is straining to produce enough artillery shells and air defense systems to aid Ukraine’s fight against Russia’s full-scale invasion. Japan has already begun helping restore American supplies by transferring weapons under its revised laws.

Japan agreed in December to send Patriot surface-to-air missiles to the US, allowing Washington to continue supplying Kyiv with the crucially needed air defense systems.

Zelenskiy hits back at pope saying Ukraine should ‘raise white flag’ and end war with Russia

Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, on Sunday dismissed Pope Francis’s call for talks with Russia as “virtual mediation” from a distance.

The 87-year-old pope was asked by RTS about a debate within Ukraine on whether to surrender to Russia’s invasion.

“I believe that the strongest are those who see the situation, think about the people, and have the courage to raise the white flag and negotiate,” he said.

“That word negotiate is a brave word. When you see that you are defeated, that things are not working out, you have to have the courage to negotiate.”

A Vatican spokesperson later said the pope was speaking of stopping the fighting through negotiation, not capitulation.

Opening summary

Hello and welcome to the Guardian’s live coverage of the war in Ukraine.

The Ukrainian government has responded angrily and vowed never to surrender after Pope Francis said the country should have “the courage to raise the white flag” and negotiate an end to the war with Russia.

Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said the pontiff was engaging in “virtual mediation”. Zelenskiy made no direct reference to Francis or his comments but mentioned religious figures helping inside Ukraine.

“They support us with prayer, with their discussion and with deeds. This is indeed what a church with the people is,” Zelenskiy said in his nightly video address. “Not 2,500 km away, somewhere, virtual mediation between someone who wants to live and someone who wants to destroy you.”

Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, took a more direct approach – writing on social media on Sunday: “Our flag is a yellow and blue one. This is the flag by which we live, die, and prevail. We shall never raise any other flags.”

We will bring you more on this shortly. In other key developments:

European states imported almost double the amount of arms in 2019 to 2023 compared to 2014 to 2018, according to the thinktank, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. Ukraine emerged as the largest European arms importer after the full-scale invasion by Russia in February 2022. Ukraine was the fourth largest importer in the world between 2019 and 2023, after at least 30 states supplied military aid to Ukraine from February 2022.
The defence forces of southern Ukraine wrote on Telegram that Russia launched a massive drone attack against the city of Odesa overnight, damaging an infrastructure facility and administrative buildings. No casualties were reported.
Ukraine said Russian shelling in the east had killed three people on Sunday. A strike on a residential building in the eastern town of Myrnograd injured a dozen more people, Kyiv officials said. Ukraine also said Moscow launched missile attacks on the north-eastern Kharkiv region and sent attack drones across the centre and south of the country.
The Ukrainian film 20 Days in Mariupol, which was shot inside the besieged port city during the assault by Russian forces, has won the best documentary Oscar at the Academy Awards in Los Angeles.
A visit by France’s president, Emmanuel Macron, to Ukraine to visit Volodymyr Zelenskiy has been postponed, the third time a planned trip to the country has been pushed back since February. “The two heads of state agreed to remain in close contact, notably regarding the president’s visit to Ukraine, which should happen in the coming weeks,” the French presidency said after the two leaders spoke by phone earlier on Sunday.