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May 13 (Reuters) – Italy’s leaders promised full military and financial backing for Ukraine and reiterated support for its EU membership bid as President Volodymyr Zelenskiy visited Rome on Saturday for the first time since the war began.
Zelenskiy will be received in Berlin on Sunday, German government sources said on Saturday, as the leader seeks to shore up support from key allies.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy held talks at the Vatican on Saturday with Pope Francis, who said in late April that the Holy See was involved in a peace keeping mission to end the war with Russia.
“It is a great honour,” Zelenskiy told Francis, putting his hand to his heart and bowing his head as he greeted the 86-year-old pope, who stood with a cane, a brief video of the encounter seen by reporters showed.
Earlier on Saturday, Zelenskiy also met Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who promised full military and financial backing for Ukraine and reiterated support for its EU membership bid.
Zelenskiy, who was visiting Rome for the first time since the war began, spoke with the pope for 40 minutes and presented him with a bulletproof vest that had been used by a Ukrainian soldier and later painted with an image of the Madonna.
A Vatican statement about the meeting was due later.
Zelenskiy last met the pope at the Vatican in 2020 and the two have had several phone conversations since the war began.
At the start of the war, the pope tried to take a balanced approach in hopes of being a mediator but later began forcefully condemning Russia’s actions, comparing them to some of the worst crimes against Ukraine during the Soviet era.
Returning from a trip to Hungary on April 30, Francis made an intriguing but puzzling comment about the Vatican being involved in a mission to try to end the war. “There is a mission in course now but it is not yet public. When it is public, I will reveal it,” he told reporters during his flight home.
Francis met this week with Russia’s outgoing ambassador to the Vatican, Alexander Avdeyev, and the Italian newspaper Il Messaggero reported that the Vatican may have given the envoy a letter for Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Francis has pleaded for peace practically on a weekly basis, and has repeatedly expressed a wish to act as a broker between Kyiv and Moscow. His offer has so far failed to produce any breakthrough.
The pope has a standing invitation from Zelenskiy to visit Kyiv but has said previously that he also wants to visit Moscow as part of the same peace mission.
Zelenskiy and his team have been vigorously promoting Kyiv’s 10-point peace plan and urging world leaders to hold a Global Peace Summit based on the proposals.
It calls for restoring Ukraine’s territorial integrity, the withdrawal of Russian troops and cessation of hostilities, and the restoration of Ukraine’s state borders. Zelenskiy has repeatedly said the plan is not open to negotiations.
The pope has said the Vatican is willing to do “all that is humanly possible” to help the repatriation of Ukrainian children. Kyiv estimates nearly 19,500 children have been taken to Russia or Russian-occupied Crimea since February 2022, in what it condemns as illegal deportations.
Earlier, both Meloni and President Sergio Mattarella reiterated Italy’s full support for Ukraine in terms of military, financial, humanitarian and reconstruction aid in the short and long term.
At a news conference, Meloni condemned Russia’s “brutal and unjust aggression,” pledged Italy’s support for Ukraine for “as long as is necessary,” and urged Russia to immediately withdraw.
“You can’t achieve peace through a surrender,” she said. “It would be a very grave precedent for all nations of the world”.
She emphasised Italy’s support for Ukraine’s membership of the European Union and the “intensification” of a partnership with NATO.
As he headed to the presidential palace, Zelenskiy’s motorcade passed by small groups of people holding Ukrainian flags. One person held up a sign condemning Russia.
Zelenskiy flew to Rome on an Italian government plane that was escorted over Italian airspace by fighter jets. He was due to be received in Berlin on Sunday.
CONFLICT
* Russia’s Defence Ministry said on Saturday that Ukrainian aircraft had struck two industrial sites in the Russian-held city of Luhansk in eastern Ukraine with Storm Shadow long-range cruise missiles supplied by Britain.
* A Russian SU-34 warplane crashed in the Bryansk region bordering Ukraine, TASS news agency reported, quoting emergency services, in the second such incident on Saturday after a helicopter was seemingly downed in the same region.
* Reuters could not verify the battlefield reports.
BATTLE FOR BAKHMUT
* Moscow acknowledged on Friday that its forces had fallen back north of Ukraine’s battlefield city of Bakhmut after a new offensive, in a retreat that the head of Russia’s Wagner private army called a rout.
* Russian forces have likely withdrawn from their positions on the southern flank of Bakhmut operations in bad order over the last four days, Britain’s defence ministry said in its daily intelligence update on Saturday.
DIPLOMACY AND WEAPONS
* Germany on Saturday announced 2.7 billion euro ($3.0 billion) of military aid to Ukraine, its biggest such package yet since Russia’s invasion, and pledged further support for Kyiv for as long as necessary.
* The European Union must speed up the supply of ammunition to Ukraine as the country’s forces need 1,000 artillery shells every day in the Bakhmut area alone, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said on Saturday.
* A draft communique from a meeting of Group of Seven finance chiefs reiterated the group’s condemnation of Russia’s “illegal, unjustifiable, and unprovoked war of aggression” against Ukraine, and said it will continue to strengthen coordination in monitoring cross-border transactions between Russia and other countries.
* South African officials hit back on Friday at U.S. accusations that a sanctioned Russian ship had picked up weapons from a naval base near Cape Town late last year, a move investors feared could lead Washington to impose sanctions.
* U.N. nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi plans to present an agreement with Russia and Ukraine on protecting the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant to the U.N. Security Council this month, indicating a deal is close, four diplomats told Reuters.
INSIDE RUSSIA
* Police in the Russian city of St. Petersburg said on Friday they have created an anti-drone unit to detect unmanned aerial vehicles following a purported drone attack on the Kremlin this month.
* Pro-war Russian nationalists led by Igor Girkin said on Friday a new group they had set up was entering politics to save Russia, which they warned was in danger of turmoil due to military failures in the Ukraine war.
(Compiled by Reuters editors)
