Russian President Vladimir Putin has thanked Pope Leo for offering to mediate the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict but claimed that Kyiv is determined to escalate the war, according to a Kremlin statement released on Wednesday.
The two leaders reportedly spoke by phone, though the date of the conversation was not disclosed.
The Kremlin said Pope Leo offered to assist in resolving the crisis and proposed hosting peace negotiations at the Vatican—an initiative also mentioned recently by US President Donald Trump. “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 depoliticised basis,” the Kremlin noted.
Putin, however, 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 reiterated that addressing the “root causes” of the conflict—namely Ukraine’s NATO aspirations and neutrality status—is essential to ending the war.
Although Russia has maintained cordial ties with both Pope Leo and his predecessor Pope Francis, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and other officials have expressed doubts about the Vatican’s suitability as a venue for negotiations, citing the Orthodox Christian identity of both warring nations.
Nonetheless, the Kremlin acknowledged recent progress in direct talks with Ukrainian negotiators on humanitarian matters, including prisoner exchanges and the repatriation of fallen soldiers. It also expressed hope that the Vatican would become more vocal in supporting religious freedom in Ukraine, particularly for members of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church linked historically to Moscow.
Ukrainian authorities have initiated legal proceedings against some of the Church’s clergy over alleged pro-Russian sympathies, while a Kyiv-based Orthodox Church independent of Moscow has grown in prominence since the war began.
Melissa Enoch
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