Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly spoken of his country’s “readiness and openness” to negotiations on Ukraine, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov stated in response to Pope Francis’s remarks made in an interview published on Saturday.
“You know that Putin has repeatedly spoken about our readiness and openness to solve our problems through negotiations, and this is the preferred path.”
Peskov stated that he understood the Pope’s statement as a call for negotiations. However, according to the Kremlin spokesman, the comments by the Pope and Russia were met by Ukraine with “absolutely harsh denial.”
Ukraine criticised comments made by Pope Francis in later statements, with Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba saying over the proposal of having the “courage of the white flag”:
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.
