Ukraine-Russia war live: Zelensky leads outrage over Pope’s ‘raise white flag’ comment

INDEPENDENT:  Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky has criticised Pope Francis’s call to negotiate with Russia.

The Pope over the weekend said Kyiv should have the “courage of the white flag” - a statement some have compared to a few Catholic churches collaborating with Nazi Germany during World War II.

Mr Zelensky said Ukrainians “with weapons in their hands and under the blue and yellow flag” were resisting Russia’s further invasion into Europe. “Christians, Muslims, Jews -- everyone... They support us with prayer, conversation, and deeds.

“This is what the church is -- with people. And not two and a half thousand kilometres away, somewhere to mediate virtually between someone who wants to live and someone who wants to destroy you,” the president said.

Meanwhile, according to CNN report, the US asked China and India for help in dissuading Russia from carrying out a nuclear strike in 2022.

“One of the things we did was not only message them directly but strongly urge, press, encourage other countries, to whom they might be more attentive, to do the same thing,” the official said, per the report. They added the diplomatic pressure “may have had some effect” on Russia’s thinking.