Kremlin says appeal by Pope Francis for Ukraine talks is quite understandable

By Guy Faulconbridge

MOSCOW (Reuters) -The Kremlin on Monday said that a call by Pope Francis for talks to end the Ukraine war was quite understandable and that Russia was ready to sit down, but that Kyiv had ruled out talks due to its mistaken view that the West could defeat Russia.

Pope Francis has said that Ukraine should have what he called the courage of the "white flag" to negotiate an end to a conflict that has killed tens of thousands.

Russia calls the war a "special military operation" to ensure its own security. Kyiv and the West call it a brutal colonial-style war of conquest.

"It is quite understandable that he (the pope) spoke in favour of negotiations," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters when asked about the Pontiff's remarks.

Peskov said that President Vladimir Putin had repeatedly spoken of Russia's willingness and openness to negotiations, but that Ukraine had knocked down such proposals.

"Unfortunately, both the statements of the pope and the repeated statements of other parties, including ours, have recently received absolutely harsh refusals," Peskov said.

Peskov said the battlefield situation showed that Western hopes of inflicting a "strategic defeat" on Russia were mistaken.

"This is the deepest misconception, the deepest mistake, and the course of events, primarily on the battlefield, is the clearest evidence of this," Peskov said.

Ukraine on Sunday rebuffed Pope Francis's call to negotiate an end to the war with Russia, with President Volodymyr Zelenskiy saying the Pontiff was engaging in "virtual mediation" and his foreign minister saying Kyiv would never capitulate.

Putin sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine in February 2022, triggering a full-scale war after eight years of conflict in eastern Ukraine between Ukrainian forces and pro-Russian Ukrainians and Russian proxies.

TALKS?

Putin says that shortly after he sent troops into Ukraine, Moscow and Kyiv almost agreed a ceasefire, but that it was torpedoed by Britain.

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Reuters reported last month that Putin's suggestion of a ceasefire in Ukraine to freeze the war was rejected by the United States after contacts between intermediaries.

As the West grapples with how to support Ukraine and the prospect of a sharp change in U.S. policy if Donald Trump wins the November presidential election, Putin has essentially offered to freeze the battlefield along its current front lines.

Russia's foreign ministry said Francis's call for talks was a request to Kyiv's Western allies to abandon their ambition to defeat Russia and to recognise the West's mistake in the Ukraine war, Italy's ANSA news agency reported.

"The way I see it, the Pope is asking the West to put aside its ambitions and admit that it was wrong," the ANSA news agency quoted Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova as saying.

Zelenskiy, who signed a decree in 2022 ruling out talks with Putin, said last week that Russia will not be invited to the first peace summit due to be held in Switzerland.

(Reporting by Reuters;Editing by Andrew Osborn)