"Let the sounds of weapons be silenced": Pope Francis calls for peace talks between Russia and Ukraine

During his Christmas message, Pope Francis called on Ukraine and Russia to start negotiations. The pontiff is confident that the establishment of a dialogue between Kyiv and Moscow will help end the war.

According to Francis, it is necessary to achieve a just and lasting peace. This was reported by the Vatican News portal.

The bishop of the Roman Catholic Church said that it is necessary to show courage to "open the door to negotiations." The pontiff emphasized that at Christmas he calls on every people and nation to dare to become pilgrims of hope to silence the weapons.

"Let the weapons be silenced in long-suffering Ukraine! May there be enough courage to open the door to negotiations and gestures of dialogue and meeting to achieve a just and lasting peace," the Pope said.

The 88-year-old Francis also called for an end to conflicts – political, social, or military – in countries such as Lebanon, Mali, Mozambique, Haiti, Venezuela, and Nicaragua.

It is noteworthy that Pope Francis has previously stated that Ukraine must have the courage to raise the "white flag" and begin negotiations to end the war with Russia.

As a reminder, on Christmas morning, Russia used more than 70 missiles and over a hundred kamikaze drones against Ukraine. The main target of the occupiers was the energy infrastructure of our country.

Earlier, explosions were reported in Dnipro and Kharkiv. In the latter of the two cities, there were arrivals in several districts, and civilians were injured. Fires broke out at the sites of the explosions, and there was also destruction.

As reported by OBOZ.UA, the Russian terrorist army launched a missile attack on the territory of the Ivano-Frankivsk region. Putin's terrorists once again targeted critical infrastructure facilities. As a result of the attack, part of the region was left without electricity.

By the way, during the attack, one missile landed on the territory of the NATO member state of Romania. However, the Romanian Ministry of Defense said that the air surveillance system allegedly did not detect any missiles.

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