The Holy See may have an important role
in the mediation between Ukraine and Russia but "this moment has not arrived".
There are therefore no conditions, in a Ukraine still under bombs, to open a peace table and in any case anyone who wants to help this process, including the Vatican, "cannot be neutral", cannot put the two states on the same floor.
The Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba speaks without beating about the bush as he welcomes into his office a group of international journalists following a mission organized by the Ukrainian embassy to the Holy See.
And he adds:
"One cannot insist on the concept of brotherhood, we are not brothers, this is the story of Cain and Abel"
.
But the Pope's last words, and above all his emotion on 8 December, "reached straight to the heart of the Ukrainians.
Relations between Kiev and the Holy See are continuous.
And the dossiers on which the Holy See is engaged are diverse, from wheat to prisoners.
But anyone who wants to help Ukraine "cannot be neutral."
"On October 2, the Pope told Putin to stop the war and Zelensky to be open to proposals", recalled the Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, recalling the special Angelus message of that Sunday.
“This going both sides didn't help.
It's fine to recall Putin, but if you ask Zelensky to be open to peace proposals, you are saying that Zelensky is not open to peace and needs someone to tell him. This that's not true.
Ukraine wants peace."
The government of Kiev looks favorably on a possible role of the Holy See in a future peace negotiation but "the sad truth is that
the time has not yet come for mediation
and the reason is President Putin. If you want peace, don't you send missiles every week to destroy our infrastructure, you don't continue to send soldiers to capture our cities, you don't annex territories that belong to others".