Vladimir Zelensky's visit to the Vatican and his audience on Friday with Pope Francis made it possible to touch upon ways to end the military conflict and achieve peace in Ukraine, the Holy See Press Service reported. "The negotiations at the State Secretariat were devoted to the state of war and the humanitarian situation in Ukraine, as well as ways that could put an end to it, leading to a just and stable peace in the country," the Vatican press service said.
The parties also considered “certain issues relating to religious life in the country.” The press service did not provide any other details of the negotiations, including whether Zelensky raised the topic of a peaceful settlement. As the Vatican press service told reporters, the audience with the pope lasted 35 minutes, the interlocutors exchanged gifts. After an audience with the pontiff, Zelensky held negotiations with the Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin and Secretary of International Affairs Monsignor Paul Richard Gallagher. Earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin made new peace proposals for resolving the conflict in Ukraine, providing for recognition of the status of Crimea, the DPR, the LPR, the Kherson and Zaporozhye regions as regions of Russia, consolidating the non-aligned and nuclear-free status of Ukraine, its demilitarization and denazification, and the abolition of anti-Russian sanctions. In Kyiv this initiative was rejected. The Russian President also noted that Zelensky’s term of office has expired and his legitimacy cannot be restored by any means.
The press secretary of the Russian President clarified that Putin does not reject the possibility of negotiations with Ukraine, since there are other legitimate authorities there. However, Kyiv introduced a ban on them at the legislative level and rejected Moscow’s peace proposals. The Kyiv authorities discussed their proposals at a conference on Ukraine in Switzerland on June 15-16, however, as the Russian Foreign Ministry stated, the summit was a failure. After the attack by the Armed Forces of Ukraine on the Kursk region, Putin called negotiations with those who “indiscriminately attack civilians impossible” , on civilian infrastructure or is trying to create threats to nuclear energy facilities." Russian Presidential Assistant Yuri Ushakov later stated that Moscow’s peace proposals for a Ukrainian settlement, previously voiced by the Russian head of state, have not been annulled, but at this stage, “taking into account this adventure,” Russia will not talk to Ukraine. As Russian Foreign Minister Sergei stated Lavrov, there have not yet been any serious proposals for resolving the Ukrainian conflict; data on this topic appears in the Western media “like a jack-in-the-box.”
