Global Courant 2023-05-13 23:22:44
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky met Pope Francis on a trip to Rome on Saturday, as Berlin unveiled a massive new weapons package ahead of an expected Ukrainian counter-offensive.
Zelensky spent 40 minutes with the 86-year-old pope at the Vatican, following an earlier meeting with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who has strongly supported Kiev in the wake of the February 2022 Russian invasion.
“I am deeply grateful to him for his personal attention to the tragedy of millions of Ukrainians,” Zelensky said on Telegram after his audience with the pope, the first since February 2020.
He said they had also discussed the fate of “tens of thousands of children” who Kiev says have been deported to Russia, as well as his plans for peace.
Francis has repeatedly called for peace in Ukraine and tried to play a mediating role, although his efforts have yet to bear fruit and he has faced criticism for not blaming Russia for the war.
The Vatican, without citing Russia, said the pair discussed “the humanitarian and political situation in Ukraine as a result of the ongoing war,” and the need for “human gestures toward the most vulnerable.”
It was Zelensky’s first visit to EU and NATO member Italy since Russia invaded its neighbour, and was to be followed by a visit to Berlin on Sunday.
Germany on Saturday announced a new weapons package worth 2.7 billion euros ($2.95 billion) for Ukraine, reportedly the largest from Berlin since Russia’s invasion.
– ‘Prouder, more prosperous’ –
Zelensky had a 70-minute face-to-face conversation with Meloni, who has pledged Italy’s full support for Kiev despite a history of warm ties with Moscow in her country – and with her coalition partners.
At a joint press conference, Zelensky thanked Meloni “for helping save lives” as he gave details of what he called new aggression from Russia.
“I have not come to complain, I have come to talk about our cooperation and to thank you again for your help, for the sake of our country, because we want peace,” he said.
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Italy has sent weapons and aid to Kiev, although it has never revealed exactly what it delivered.
Meloni, who visited Zelensky in Kiev in February, said on Saturday: “I am convinced that Ukraine will win and be reborn stronger, prouder and more prosperous than before.”
– Russia ‘must lose’ –
The new package from Germany includes 30 additional Leopard-1 tanks, Marder armored vehicles, air defense systems and surveillance drones.
“We all hope for a quick end to this terrible war waged by Russia against the Ukrainian people, but unfortunately that is not in sight,” Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said in a statement.
“That is why Germany will provide all the help it can for as long as it takes,” he said.
Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to Zelensky, applauded the announcement, saying it indicated that Russia was “on the verge of losing and sitting on the bench of historical shame.”
Western allies have been supplying increasingly powerful weapons to Ukraine. Britain announced this week that it would send Storm Shadow missiles, becoming the first country to send longer-range weapons to Kiev.
Russia described it as “an extremely hostile move” and on Saturday accused Kiev of using the British missiles to attack civilian sites in eastern Ukraine and injure six children.
But Josep Borrell, the EU’s foreign policy chief, on Saturday urged other European countries to supply long-range weapons to Ukraine, while generally accelerating arms deliveries.
“The Russians are bombing from far away, so the Ukrainians must have the capacity to reach … the same distance, the same range,” Borrell said after a meeting with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba in Stockholm.
“But we have to accelerate,” he said.
– Combat intensifies –
Meanwhile, on the frontline, near the eastern flashpoint city of Bakhmut, both sides claimed to be making progress.
“Our soldiers are moving forward in some parts of the front and the enemy is losing equipment and manpower,” Ukrainian ground forces commander Oleksandr Syrskyi said on social media.
Russia said its troops were still pushing into Bakhmut.
“In the direction of Donetsk, assault detachments have liberated a block in the northwestern part of the city of Artemovsk,” the defense ministry said, referring to Bakhmut by his Russian name.
The conflicting reports from the front point to an increase in fighting after months of relative stability, while expectations of Kiev’s spring counter-offensive are growing.
There has been constant speculation about when and where Ukraine could launch its battle to drive Russian forces out of occupied territory, although Zelensky insisted earlier this week that his army needed more time to prepare.
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