Pope Francis has asked russian President Vladimir Putin three times to provide a humanitarian corridor for the evacuation of civilians from Mariupol. However, the Kremlin has stated that it cannot provide security guarantees.
This was reported by the Italian newspaper Il Messaggero.
The first two times the head of the Catholic Church offered Putin to allow Mariupol residents to be taken out of the humanitarian corridor to the territories controlled by Ukraine. These requests were transmitted to the russian president through confidential channels in late March and closer to Easter.
The Pope proposed sending his trusted cardinal for humanitarian affairs, Konrad Krajewski, to Mariupol from Poland, who accompanied the ambulance donated by the Vatican.
During the third attempt to agree on a green corridor, the Pope offered to evacuate civilians from Azovstal on a Vatican-flagged ship.
Earlier, the commander of the 36th Separate Marine Brigade, which now defends besieged Mariupol with Azov, Major Serhiy Volyna wrote a letter to Pope Francis urging him to help evacuate the city's residents and "save them from the hands of Satan."
One week ago, President Zelensky stated Ukraine's desire for Pope Francis to join in rescuing people in the east of our country, in particular helping to unblock the humanitarian corridor in Mariupol.
Before being asked why the pontiff is not going to Ukraine to be where people are waiting for him, Francis said he cannot do anything that "endangers higher goals, such as the end of the war, a truce or at least a humanitarian corridor".