Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy went on a key diplomatic mission to Italy and the Vatican on Saturday, where he held talks with senior officials from the Italian government and the Roman Catholic Church.
Upon his arrival, Zelenskyy tweeted that it was “an important visit in view of Ukraine’s impending victory.”
In Rome, Zelenskyi had separate meetings with Italian President Sergio Mattarella and Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.
Meloni pledged Italy’s full support to Ukraine in its efforts to repel Russia’s “brutal and unjustified aggression”. Alongside Zelenskyy, she said Italy would continue to supply arms to Ukraine and support his country for as long as needed.
“We’re betting on Ukraine to win,” added Meloni. The Italian Prime Minister also reiterated her support for Ukraine’s EU accession.
In a joint press conference, Zelenskyy thanked Meloni “for her contribution to saving lives”.
The Ukrainian leader’s trip marks his first visit to Italy since Russia launched its full-scale invasion early last year.
Italy pledges full support to Ukraine
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Here are some of the other notable developments related to Russia’s war in Ukraine on Saturday May 13:
Zelenskyy asks Pope Francis for stronger condemnation of Russia
After his talks with Mattarella and Meloni, Zelenskyy traveled to the Vatican to meet with Pope Francis.
“I am grateful for his personal attention to the tragedy of millions of Ukrainians,” Zelenskyy wrote on Twitter. “I spoke of tens of thousands of deported children.”
“I have also asked Pope Francis to condemn Russian crimes in Ukraine. Because there can be no equality between victim and aggressor,” he added, saying he also asked the head of the Catholic Church to approve Kiev’s 10-point peace plan.
Zelenskyy held private talks with the Pope in the Vatican on Saturday. Credit: Vatican News/AP Photo/Picture Alliance
“The Pope affirmed his constant prayer, evidenced by his numerous public appeals and by his continued supplications of the Lord for peace since February last year,” the Vatican said.
The pope had hinted to journalists that a Vatican “mission” to end the war was currently underway, a statement at which both Moscow and Kiev publicly expressed surprise. The Vatican has claimed something is in the works, but without providing specific details. The 86-year-old pope has repeatedly called for peace and offered to mediate between Kiev and Moscow.
Earlier this week, Pope Francis met with the outgoing Russian ambassador to the Vatican, Alexander Avdeev. Italian newspaper Il Messaggero reported that the Vatican may have given Avdeyev a letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Moscow says Russian troops are advancing in Bakhmut
The Russian Defense Ministry said its forces are still advancing on the frontline town of Bakhmut and have taken control of an area in the eastern Ukrainian city.
“In the direction of Donetsk, assault units liberated a block in the northwestern part of the city of Artemovsk,” the Defense Ministry said, referring to Bakhmut by his Russian name.
Meanwhile, a senior Ukrainian military commander said Kiev’s forces were advancing along parts of the front line against Russian forces near Bakhmut.
“Our soldiers are advancing in some areas of the front line and the enemy is losing equipment and manpower,” commander of Ukraine’s Ground Forces Oleksandr Syrskyi said on social media.
Crash of a Russian helicopter and fighter jet in the Bryansk region
According to Russian media reports, a military helicopter and a fighter plane crashed in the Bryansk region of Russia. It wasn’t immediately clear what was causing the crashes.
The helicopter crashed in an uninhabited area near the town of Klinsty, Russia’s state news agency TASS reported. Videos posted on social media apparently showed the helicopter exploding before falling to the ground in flames.
TASS later reported on the crash of a Russian Sukhoi Su-34 fighter jet in the same region. The circumstances of the crash were not initially clear.
Russian media reported that both people on board the two-seat Mi-8 helicopter were dead, although there was no official confirmation from the Russian government.
Germany sends Ukraine a military aid package worth 2.7 billion euros
Germany has promised Ukraine additional arms sales worth 2.7 billion euros ahead of a possible visit by President Zelenskyy to Germany, the German Defense Ministry said on Saturday.
According to the ministry, Germany’s largest package to date includes 20 additional Marder infantry fighting vehicles, 30 Leopard 1 tanks and four IRIS-T-SLM air defense systems.
“We all hope for a quick end to this terrible war of Russia against the Ukrainian people, but unfortunately this is not in sight. That is why Germany will provide all the assistance it can for as long as it is needed,” Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said in a statement.
Germany provided EUR 2 billion worth of military assistance to Ukraine last year and had earmarked EUR 2.2 billion for this year, but details have not yet been finalized.
Zelenskyy: Russia has lost the “war in its mind”.
In his evening address on Friday, Zelenskyy said the Russians were “already internally ready for defeat.”
“You have already lost this war in your mind. We have to put pressure on them every day so that their sense of defeat turns into their flight, their mistakes, their losses,” he said.
Ukraine claims to have recaptured large areas from Russian forces near Bakhmut, the scene of the longest and bloodiest battle of the war.
Moscow admitted on Friday that its forces had fallen back north of the city.
Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of Russia’s private Wagner mercenary group that led the Bakhmut campaign, said in an audio message that what Moscow described was “unfortunately referred to as an ‘escape’ and not a regrouping.”
G7 financial politicians warn of global uncertainty
The finance chiefs of the Group of Seven (G7) richest nations are ready to end a three-day meeting in Japan with a warning of rising economic uncertainty.
“The global economy has proved resilient to multiple shocks, including the COVID-19 pandemic, Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine and associated inflationary pressures,” leaders said in a final draft communiqué seen by Portal .
“We must remain vigilant and remain agile and flexible in our macroeconomic policies amid rising uncertainty about the global economic outlook.”
More DW coverage of the Russian war in Ukraine
South Africa’s foreign ministry on Friday summoned the US ambassador to a meeting to discuss allegations he made a day earlier that the country had been supplying arms to Russia for the war in Ukraine.
A student with an anti-war slogan, a vocational school founder who doesn’t want to recruit for the military: some people in Russia are still demonstrating against the war in Ukraine. In doing so, they take great risks, reports DW moderator Juri Rescheto in the video below.
Russia’s silent protest against the war
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ab,dh,lo/rc (AFP, AP, dpa, Portal)