WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Pope says Ukraine should have 'courage of the white flag' of negotiations

Pope Francis has said in an interview that Ukraine should have what he called the courage of the "white flag" and negotiate an end to the war with Russia that followed Moscow's full-scale invasion two years ago and that has killed tens of thousands.

Francis made his comments in an interview recorded last month with Swiss broadcaster RSI, well before Friday's latest offer by Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan to host a summit between Ukraine and Russia to end the war.

Erdogan made the fresh offer after a meeting in Istanbul with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskiy. Zelenskiy has said while he wants peace he will not give up any territory.

The Ukrainian leader's own peace plan calls for the withdrawal of Russian troops from all of Ukraine and the restoration of its state borders. The Kremlin has ruled out engaging in peace talks on terms set by Kyiv.

A spokesman for Zelenskiy did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the pope's remarks.

In the interview Francis was asked for his position on a debate between those who say Ukraine should give up as it has not been able to repel Russian forces, and those who say doing so would legitimise actions by the strongest party. The interviewer used the term "white flag" in the question.

"It is one interpretation, that is true," Francis said, according to an advance transcript of the interview and a partial video made available to Reuters on Saturday. It is due to be broadcast on March 20 as part of a new cultural programme.

"But I think that the strongest one is the one who looks at the situation, thinks about the people and has the courage of the white flag, and negotiates," Francis said, adding that talks should take place with the help of international powers.

"The word negotiate is a courageous word. When you see that you are defeated, that things are not going well, you have to have the courage to negotiate," Francis said.

It was believed to be the first time Francis has used terms such as "white flag" or "defeated" in discussing the Ukraine war, although he has spoken in the past about the need for negotiations.

In a statement, Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said the pope had picked up on the term "white flag" spoken by the interviewer and used it "to indicate a stop to hostilities (and) a truce achieved with the courage of negotiations".

Last year the 87-year-old pope sent a peace envoy, Italian Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, to Kyiv, Moscow and Washington to sound out leaders in those countries.

"One may feel shame," Francis said about negotiating, "but how many dead will it (the war) end up with? (One should) negotiate in time, find a country that can be a mediator," Francis said, mentioning Turkey among the countries that had offered.

"Do not be ashamed of negotiating, before things get worse," said Francis, who has made hundreds of appeals for what he calls "martyred Ukraine". Asked if he was willing to mediate, Francis said "I am here".

In another part of the interview, speaking of the war between Israel and Hamas, Francis said: "Negotiating is never a surrender".

Last month Zelenskiy said that 31,000 Ukrainian soldiers had been killedsince the Russian invasion in February 2022 and that tens of thousands of civilians had been killed in the occupied areas of the country.

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

UK pressures Germany on long-range missile for Ukraine

Western nations should enhance their military support to Ukraine and “invest” more in NATO, British Foreign Secretary David Cameron told Germany’s Sueddeutsche Zeitung in an interview published on Friday. London is ready to work with Berlin on “solving the issues” preventing Germany from providing Kiev with its long-range Taurus missiles, he added.

The potential supply of the German-made cruise missiles, which have a range of about 500 kilometers (300 miles), to Ukraine has drawn additional attention recently amid fallout from a leaked recording of top German military officials discussing the use of those weapons to destroy Russia’s Crimean Bridge. In the audio recording and a transcript of the conversation published by RT, senior German military officers, including the nation’s Air Force commander, in particular spoke about maintaining plausible deniability in case of such an attack.

The leak prompted former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev to accuse Germany of preparing for a conflict with Russia, which Berlin has denied.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz has been skeptical of the idea of sending Taurus missiles to Ukraine. He argued that the use of such weapons would require tighter control from Berlin and the presence of German specialists on the ground. Scholz also maintained that he would not allow the nation’s troops to become directly involved in the Ukraine conflict.

“We are determined to work closely with our German partners on this issue as well as on all the other ones to help Ukraine,” Cameron told Sueddeutsche Zeitung when asked whether London could aid Berlin in “solving the problems preventing a Taurus delivery” to Kiev.

When further pressed on potential solution scenarios, including a supply of more British Storm Shadow missiles to Ukraine in exchange for Taurus deliveries to the UK, Cameron said that “we are ready to look at all options to achieve the maximum effect for Ukraine.” He refused to provide any further details on the issue.

The foreign secretary said that London would not encourage Berlin to send its missiles to Kiev, adding that “every country has to make a sovereign decision here.” He still maintained that the UK was “happy with the arrangements” it made with Kiev, adding that the British weapons did play a role in improving Ukraine’s fighting capabilities.

Cameron also insisted that the West should still seek to achieve its goals through force rather than seek peace in Ukraine. “The best thing we can do now is to invest in NATO,” he told the German newspaper. Russia’s success in the ongoing conflict would lead to “great uncertainty” in Europe and the rest of the world as well as a crisis of trust within the US-led bloc, he argued.

“If we want to achieve a just peace, we will only achieve this through strength,” Cameron stated, adding that seeking peace is incompatible with aiding Kiev. “If we say [that] we want to support Ukraine but also a peace process, neither of the two things will succeed,” he added.

Moscow has repeatedly said that it was ready for peace talks but has seen no willingness for them either in Kiev, in Washington or among its allies. The West still seeks to inflict a battlefield defeat on Russia, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said last week. Russia’s former defense minister, Sergey Ivanov, in a speech earlier this week also counted the UK among the nations that are “most hostile” to Russia.

Reuters/RT