Ukraine war must end, Vatican envoy tells Russia’s Lavrov

Vatican envoy Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher on Tuesday told Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov that the war with Ukraine must end. After a meeting with Lavrov, Gallagher told reporters that the prolonged war made it clear that the Russia-Ukraine conflict could not be solved by military means. He urged both Russia and Ukraine to begin genuine negotiations before further casualties and civilian suffering occurred. While the Vatican and Russia had substantial differences of opinion about the conflict, they both agreed on the need for better protections for civilians, he said.

Gallagher also said he urged Russia to respect the religious freedom of Russian Catholics and not to interfere with their charitable and humanitarian projects.

What did Lavrov say about the meeting? He described the conversation as productive and wide-ranging. Among the issues discussed, he said, was the Ukrainian government’s hostility and legal restrictions toward the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, which has historically been associated with the Moscow Patriarchate. Ukraine has a separate Orthodox denomination independent of Moscow, the Orthodox Church of Ukraine.

Lavrov acknowledged that Gallagher spoke with him about the Ukrainian children abducted into Russia, but quickly added that Ukrainian drone strikes killed several children on Monday. Lavrov didn’t speak of peace talks, but said Russia was attempting to address the root issues of the conflict while the Ukranian government ignored the countries’ shared history.

What about the U.S. CIA director’s visit to Russia? U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday addressed media reports that CIA Director John Ratcliffe secretively visited the Kremlin. The visit was semi-routine, Trump said. However, he said it was possible that a productive step in negotiations would result from the meeting.

Dig deeper: Read Micah Barkley’s report on a recent Russian double-tap strike that killed at least 14.