On 11 March, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine summoned Apostolic Nuncio to Ukraine Visvaldas Kulbokas over Pope Francis' statements that Ukraine should start negotiations with Russia.
The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry told Kulbokas that Ukraine is disappointed with the Pope's words about the "white flag" and the need to "show courage and negotiate" with Russia, Ukrayinska Pravda reports.
Such calls "legalise the right of the strong and encourage them to further disregard international law," the Foreign Ministry stressed.
The ministry said that Kyiv expects the head of the Holy See to "send signals to the international community about the need to immediately unite forces to ensure the victory of good over evil, as well as to appeal to the attacker, not the victim."
Earlier, Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba tweeted that "the strongest is the one who takes the side of good in the battle between good and evil, and does not try to equalise them by calling it negotiations".
Kuleba also alluded to the Vatican's position during World War II, when Pope Pius, according to some historians, knew about the mass murder of Jews by the Nazis but did nothing.
"I urge you not to repeat historical mistakes and to consistently support Ukraine and its people in their just struggle for their lives," Kuleba wrote. We live, die and win under it. We will not raise any other flags."
The foreign minister also thanked Francis "for his constant prayers for peace" and expressed hope that "after two years of devastating war in the heart of Europe, he will find an opportunity to make an apostolic visit to Ukraine to support more than a million Ukrainian Catholics, more than five million Greek Catholics, all Christians and all Ukrainians."
Background. As a reminder, the Pope said that Ukraine should have the courage to raise the "white flag" and start negotiations with Russia. He called for "no hesitation" to negotiate before things get worse.