The Vatican said Leo also reiterated the Holy See’s commitment to supporting any initiatives aimed at achieving peace (Photo: AP).
Friday’s conversation was the second known call between the two leaders, following their earlier discussion in June 2025. Oleshky had a pre-war population of around 24,000. Head of the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine, approximately 1,700 people, including 47 children, remain in the town, according to Danielle Bell. Meanwhile, the 71-year-old pope is recovering at Rome’s Gemelli hospital following surgery for lung cancer. Following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Francis visited the Russian embassy to the Holy See and offered to travel to Moscow to meet Putin, while also holding telephone conversations with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. In 2023, he appointed Cardinal Matteo Zuppi as a special envoy for a peace mission focused on humanitarian issues, including prisoners of war and children separated from their families
The Vatican said Leo also reiterated the Holy See’s commitment to supporting any initiatives aimed at achieving peace. Pope Leo on Friday called on Russian President Vladimir Putin to agree to a ceasefire to facilitate the delivery of food and humanitarian aid to Oleshky, a Russian-occupied town in Ukraine’s Kherson region, the Vatican said. The Vatican said earlier on Friday that his condition was steadily improving and that he was able to work and carry out his normal daily activities.