Pope Leo spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin by phone on Friday, calling for a ceasefire in a Russian-occupied city in southern Ukraine, as he recovers in hospital from a lung cancer operation.
The Vatican said that Pope Leo “expressed his deep concern about the grave humanitarian situation in the city of Oleshky, in the Kherson region, and called for a ceasefire to allow the delivery of food and medical assistance, and the voluntary and safe evacuation of the civilian population”.
The surprise notice from the Vatican on Friday evening suggested that the recovering pope is still hard at work, despite Tuesday’s operation to remove a cancerous tumour from his right lung.
Residents of Oleshky in southern Ukraine are facing a worsening humanitarian crisis with shortages of food and medication as they are caught in the crossfire between Russian and Ukrainian troops.