Pope Leo XIV speaks by phone with Russian President Putin
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Pope Leo XIV has phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin
Pope Francis and Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke by phone on Wednesday. The call was the first between the two leaders since May 12. The two discussed the situation in Ukraine and the need to find a way to end the conflict. The pope asked Putin to help find a solution to the crisis in Ukraine. He also asked for help in bringing back Ukrainian refugees to their homes. The conversation was the second time the two had spoken by phone this month. The first time was on May 11, when the Pope spoke with Putin about the crisis with the Ukrainian government. The second time, on May 16, the two spoke again about the conflict in Ukraine, this time over the phone.
Pope Leo XIV spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin in a phone call Wednesday afternoon.
“The pope made an appeal for Russia to take a gesture that would favor peace, emphasizing the importance of dialogue to create positive contacts between the parties and seek solutions to the conflict,” Holy See Press Office Director Matteo Bruni said in a statement.
Bruni told members of the press that the Holy Father appealed to the Russian leader about the humanitarian situation in Ukraine and advocated for the facilitation of aid into affected areas.
The two leaders also discussed Cardinal Matteo Maria Zuppi’s efforts to facilitate prisoner exchanges.
“Pope Leo made reference to Patriarch Kirill, thanking him for the congratulations received at the beginning of his pontificate, and underlined how shared Christian values can be a light that helps to seek peace, defend life, and pursue genuine religious freedom,” Bruni added.
“Gratitude was expressed to the pontiff for his readiness to help settle the crisis, in particular the Vatican’s participation in resolving difficult humanitarian issues on a depoliticized basis,” the Kremlin said in a statement following the call, according to Reuters.
The Kremlin’s statement further said Putin stressed his belief to the Holy Father “that the Kyiv regime is banking on escalating the conflict and is carrying out sabotage against civilian infrastructure sites on Russian territory.”
Pope Leo XIV’s first call with Putin comes just over three weeks after his first call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on May 12. At the time, Bruni confirmed the two leaders had spoken after the pope expressed concern for Ukraine during his May 11 Sunday address.
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“I carry in my heart the sufferings of the beloved Ukrainian people,” Pope Leo had said after singing the Regina Coeli prayer with approximately 100,000 people.
“May everything possible be done to reach an authentic, just, and lasting peace, as soon as possible,” the Holy Father continued.
At the time, Zelenskyy shared a photo on X of him purportedly having a telephone call with Pope Leo. After expressing gratitude to the Holy Father “for his support for Ukraine and all our people,” Zelenskyy said he and the pope specifically discussed the plight of thousands of children deported by Russia.
“Ukraine counts on the Vatican’s assistance in bringing them home to their families,” he added.
Reiterating Ukraine’s commitment to work toward a “full and unconditional ceasefire” and the end of the war with Russia, Ukraine’s president said he also invited the Holy Father “to make an apostolic visit to Ukraine.”
The final Easter message delivered by Pope Francis the day before his death included a prayer for the embattled country: “May the risen Christ grant Ukraine, devastated by war, his Easter gift of peace and encourage all parties involved to pursue efforts aimed at achieving a just and lasting peace.”
In call with Putin, Pope Leo XIV urges Russia to support peace
Vatican says Pope Leo urged Russia to take steps towards ending the war in Ukraine. The first U.S. pope spoke to Russian President Putin in the afternoon of June 4. Putin thanked Leo for offering to help settle the conflict and told him Ukraine was intent on “escalating” the war. The Kremlin said the conflict’s “root causes” must be addressed, a reference to Russian demands that Ukraine adopt a neutral status and NATO rule out eastward expansion. A separate Kyiv-based Ukrainian Orthodox Church, formally recognised in 2019, has grown larger in Ukraine during the war and has been accused of sympathies with Moscow. The Vatican had previously said the pope offered to host Russia-Ukraine negotiations at the Vatican.
Reuters
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Pope Leo urged Russia to take steps towards ending the war in Ukraine when he spoke to President Vladimir Putin for the first time, the Vatican said on June 4.
“The pope made an appeal for Russia to make a gesture that favours peace, emphasising the importance of dialogue for achieving positive contacts between the parties and seeking solutions to the conflict,” the Vatican said.
It confirmed that Leo, the first U.S. pope, had spoken by telephone to Putin in the afternoon of June 4. The readout of the call was unusual for the Vatican, which does not always issue statements about papal phone calls.
“There was talk about the humanitarian situation, the need to facilitate aid where necessary, ongoing efforts for the exchange of prisoners, and the value of the work carried out in this regard by Cardinal (Matteo) Zuppi,” the Vatican added. Zuppi, the archbishop of Bologna, has been the Vatican’s peace envoy for Ukraine.
Putin for his part thanked Leo, who became pontiff almost four weeks ago, for offering to help settle the conflict and told him Ukraine was intent on “escalating” the war, the Kremlin said.
President Donald Trump has previously said the pope offered to host Russia-Ukraine negotiations at the Vatican.
But Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and other officials have said the Vatican is not a suitable site for peace talks between two largely Orthodox Christian countries.
Putin highlighted “that the Kyiv regime is banking on escalating the conflict and is carrying out sabotage against civilian infrastructure sites on Russian territory,” the statement said, describing those acts as terrorism.
The Kremlin restated that the conflict’s “root causes” must be addressed, a reference to Russian demands that Ukraine adopt a neutral status and NATO rule out eastward expansion.
Russia has sought to cultivate good ties with the new pope and his predecessor, Francis, especially on humanitarian issues, like family reunifications.
The Vatican statement thanked Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill for his greetings when Leo was elected. Pope Francis had been critical of Kirill’s support for Putin.
The Russian statement expressed hope the Vatican would “take a more active role” in calling for freedom of religion in Ukraine for members of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church that has historic links to Russia.
Ukrainian authorities have launched criminal proceedings against many of its clergy because of suspected sympathies for Moscow. A separate Kyiv-based Ukrainian Orthodox Church, formally recognised in 2019, has grown larger in Ukraine during the war.
Putin highlighted “that the Kyiv regime is banking on escalating the conflict and is carrying out sabotage against civilian infrastructure sites on Russian territory,” the statement said, describing those acts as terrorism.
The Kremlin restated that the conflict’s “root causes” must be addressed, a reference to Russian demands that Ukraine adopt a neutral status and NATO rule out eastward expansion.
Russia has sought to cultivate good ties with the new pope and his predecessor, Francis, especially on humanitarian issues, like family reunifications.
(This story and its headlines have been updated with new information.)
Putin will seek revenge for Ukraine drone attack, warns Trump after phone call
Putin will seek revenge for Ukraine drone attack, warns Trump. Putin will have to respond to Ukraine’s major drone attack on Russian airbases, he said. Russian officials declined to confirm this on Wednesday night, but Moscow had earlier said that military options were “on the table” for its response. Putin told Putin in the call that the US was not warned in advance of the attack, Russian presidential aide Yury Ushakov said. Putin has previously – and repeatedly – said he believes the two sides are making progress, despite ongoing fighting on the frontline and aerial attacks carried out in both Russia and Ukraine. Putin said he would not “lead to immediate peace” between Russia and the U.S., but he did say he would respond to the “incessant Russian missile and drone attacks” with “more sanctions and with more pressure” He also said that he would have to “respond to the recent attack on the airfields”
Trump’s call with Putin was the first since a major Ukraine attack on missile-carrying aircraft deep inside Russia
Trump warned in a social media post that the phone call, which lasted more than an hour, would not “lead to immediate peace” between Russia and Ukraine.
Russian officials declined to confirm this on Wednesday night, but Moscow had earlier said that military options were “on the table” for its response.
Speaking after a phone call with the Russian president, Trump said: “President Putin did say, and very strongly, that he will have to respond to the recent attack on the airfields.”
Vladimir Putin has said he will have to respond to Ukraine’s major drone attack on Russian airbases, US President Donald Trump has warned.
Russia’s RIA Novosti, a state-owned news agency, said Putin told Trump that Ukraine has tried to “disrupt” the negotiations and that the government in Kyiv has “essentially turned into a terrorist organisation”.
The two also “exchanged views on the prospects for restoring cooperation between the countries, which has enormous potential,” it said.
The conversation between the two leaders marks the first since Ukraine launched a surprise attack using smuggled drones to strike Russian airbases on 1 June, targeting what it said were nuclear-capable long-range bombers.
Trump told Putin in the call that the US was not warned in advance of the attack, Russian presidential aide Yury Ushakov said.
Ukraine’s Minister of Strategic Industries Yuriy Sak told Radio 4’s World Tonight programme his country had hoped the US would respond to the “incessant Russian missile and drone attacks” with “more sanctions and with more pressure”.
Last week, Trump appeared to set a two-week deadline for Putin, threatening to change how the US is responding to Russia if he believed Putin was still “tapping” him along on peace efforts in Ukraine.
The comment was one of a string of critical remarks by Trump, who on 26 May said that Putin had gone “absolutely crazy” and was “playing with fire” after Russia escalated drone and missile attacks on cities in Ukraine, killing dozens of civilians.
Trump made no mention of a deadline or his previous remarks in Wednesday’s post on his Truth Social platform.
In a post on X, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky talked about the scale Russian attacks on his country since Moscow’s full-scale invasion in 2022.
“Many have spoken with Russia at various levels. But none of these talks have brought a reliable peace, or even stopped the war,” Zelensky wrote.
“If the world reacts weakly to Putin’s threats, he interprets it as a readiness to turn a blind eye to his actions,” he added.
On Wednesday, a delegation of Ukrainian officials including Deputy Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko and Presidential Office head Andriy Yermak were set to meet with US senators in Washington to discuss arms purchases and efforts to stop the fighting.
In a social media post, Yermak said that the delegation planned to discuss “defense support and the situation on the battlefield”, sanctions against Russia and a previously signed reconstruction investment fund.
The post also comes just days after a second round of direct peace talks in Istanbul between the warring sides ended without a major breakthrough, although they agreed to swap more prisoners of war.
Ukrainian negotiators said Russia rejected an “unconditional ceasefire” – a key demand of Kyiv and its Western allies including the US.
The Russian team said they had proposed multi-day ceasefires in “certain areas” of the frontline in Ukraine, although they gave no further details.
Trump has previously – and repeatedly – said he believes the two sides are making progress, despite ongoing fighting on the frontline and aerial attacks carried out in both Russia and Ukraine.
Separately on Wednesday, Putin also had a call with the US-born Pope Leo XIV.
The Vatican confirmed that “particular attention” was paid to peace in the Ukraine war.
Pope Leo XIV speaks by phone with Russian President Putin
Speaking by phone with President Vladimir Putin, Pope Leo XIV urges Russia to take a step that favours peace, underlining the importance of dialogue. The Pope and the President discussed the humanitarian situation, as well as the need to facilitate aid where necessary.
By Vatican News
On Wednesday afternoon, Pope Leo XIV and Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke by phone, focusing especially on the war in Ukraine.
Matteo Bruni, Director of the Holy See Press Office, told reporters that the Pope and the President discussed the humanitarian situation, as well as the need to facilitate aid where necessary.
“The Pope made an appeal for Russia to take a gesture that would favor peace, emphasizing the importance of dialogue to create positive contacts between the parties and seek solutions to the conflict,” said the statement.
Pope Leo XIV and President Putin also discussed the ongoing efforts for prisoner exchanges and the value of the work that Cardinal Matteo Maria Zuppi, Archbishop of Bologna, is doing in this regard.
“Pope Leo made reference to Patriarch Kirill, thanking him for the congratulations received at the beginning of his pontificate, and underlined how shared Christian values can be a light that helps to seek peace, defend life, and pursue genuine religious freedom,” said Mr. Bruni.
Pope Leo XIV and Russia’s Vladimir Putin have first phone call
Pope Leo XIV and Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke by phone today, June 4, for the first time. The Kremlin described the conversation as “constructive,” according to the Italian daily, Corriere della Sera. The last time President Putin spoke with the head of the Catholic Church was on Dec. 17, 2021, when he phoned Pope Francis to wish him a happy birthday. Mr. Putin refused to take any calls from the pope after he launched the Russian invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022. Pope Leo, like Pope Francis, has extended the good offices of the Holy See to facilitate negotiations between the two sides, and recently even offered the Holy see as a site for talks. The offer was deemed “inappropriate” by Russia’s foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov, who said it was not fitting that two Orthodox states should discuss their problems in a Catholic state. The Pope has stated that it would be very interested in hosting negotiations between Russia and Ukraine.
Pope Leo XIV and Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke together by phone today, June 4, for the first time, the Kremlin said. The Russian news agency Interfax reported the news, and the Vatican later confirmed the phone call.
Matteo Bruni, the director of the Holy See Press Office, told reporters: “The Pope made an appeal for Russia to make a gesture that would favor peace, emphasizing the importance of dialogue to create positive contacts between the parties [in conflict] and seek solutions to the conflict.”
In the statement, issued at 9:02 pm local time, Mr. Bruni said the two leaders discussed “talked about the humanitarian situation, the need to favor aid where necessary, the continuous efforts for the exchange of prisoners and the value of the work that Cardinal [Matteo] Zuppi is doing in this regard.”
“Pope Leo made reference to [Russian Orthodox] Patriarch Kirill, thanking him for the congratulations received at the beginning of his pontificate, and underlined how shared Christian values can be a light that helps to seek peace, defend life, and pursue genuine religious freedom,” said Mr. Bruni.
ANSA, the main Italian news agency, said that according to Interfax, “Vladimir Putin expressed appreciation in a phone call with the Pope for his willingness to help resolve the Ukrainian crisis.”
The Kremlin described the conversation as “constructive,” according to the Italian daily, Corriere della Sera, and said the Russian president, in his conversation with the Holy Father, “stressed that Kiev’s deliberate and targeted attack on civilians can clearly be defined as terrorism.”
The last time President Putin spoke with the head of the Catholic Church was on Dec. 17, 2021, when he phoned Pope Francis to wish him a happy birthday. Mr. Putin refused to take any calls from the pope after he launched the Russian invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022. He did not attend the pope’s funeral, and the minister who was to represent him at Leo’s installation did not arrive, seemingly because of air travel difficulties. The Russian ambassador to the Holy See, Ivan Soltanovsky, represented the Russian delegation at the inaugural Mass.
When Pope Francis sent Cardinal Matteo Zuppi as his special envoy to address humanitarian issues between Russia and Ukraine, he was only received by an advisor to the president, and not at a senior level.
Pope Leo, like Francis, has extended the good offices of the Holy See to facilitate negotiations between the two sides, and recently even offered the Holy See as a site for talks between the two sides. The offer was deemed “inappropriate” by Russia’s foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov, who said it was not fitting that two Orthodox states should discuss their problems in a Catholic state.
Pope Leo, after his installation, had a private conversation with Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, who attended both the funeral of Pope Francis and the inauguration ceremony for Pope Leo.
Given all this, today’s conversation between President Putin and Pope Leo comes as a surprise, and at the time of writing, it is not clear who initiated the call.
U.S. President Donald Trump also spoke by phone with Mr. Putin today. The Russian president told Mr. Trump “very strongly” that he will respond to Ukraine’s weekend drone attack on Russian airfields, as the deadlock over the war drags on and President Zelenskyy dismisses Russia’s ceasefire proposal.
The U.S. president said in a social media post that his lengthy call with Putin “was a good conversation, but not a conversation that will lead to immediate Peace.”
It is the first time Mr. Trump has weighed in on Ukraine’s daring attack inside Russia. The U.S. did not have advance notice of the operation, according to the White House.
Mr. Trump, in his social media post, did not say how he reacted to Putin’s promise to respond to Ukraine’s attack, but his post showed none of the frustration that the U.S. president has expressed with his Russian counterpart in recent weeks over his prolonging of the war.
In a May 19 phone call with Mr. Putin, Mr. Trump said that “[n]egotiations between Russia and Ukraine will begin immediately. The Vatican, as represented by the Pope, has stated that it would be very interested in hosting the negotiations.”
On May 27, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican secretary of state, told Vatican News that Pope Leo was not offering himself or a Vatican official as a mediator, something neither side requested, but simply offered the Vatican as “a neutral, protected venue.”
Material from The Associated Press and Catholic News Service was used in this report.