Ukraine said it was making good progress in building extensive fortified defences to hold back Russian attacks, as Moscow welcomed Pope Francis’s controversial comments on the war and arrested a South Korean man for alleged spying.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy received reports from senior officials on Monday about the battlefield situation, arms deliveries and production, and the “massive task” of constructing a 2,000km long, triple-layer defensive line which he said was moving at a “good pace” and must be completed on time.
No deadline has been made public, as Ukraine’s forces switch to a more defensive stance after losing ground in the east in recent months during a halt to deliveries of US military aid.
Mr Zelenskiy did not directly address the pope’s suggestion that Kyiv find “the courage of the white flag” and negotiate with the Kremlin, but did praise people of all faiths who are defending Ukraine and chaplains serving in its military.
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“They are on the frontline, protecting life and humanity, supporting with prayer, conversation, and deeds. This is what the church is – it is together with people, not two and a half thousand kilometres away somewhere, ‘virtually mediating’ between someone who wants to live and someone who wants to destroy you,” he said.
Dmitry Peskov, a spokesman for Russian president Vladimir Putin, said “it is quite easy to understand” that the pope was “speaking out in favour of negotiations”.
“Putin has also repeatedly talked about our readiness and openness to resolve our problems through talks, and this is the preferred option,” he added, calling western hopes for Russia’s defeat “the deepest misconception, the deepest mistake”.
Two years into an all-out Russian invasion that has killed and injured hundreds of thousands of soldiers and civilians and driven millions of Ukrainians from their homes, the Kremlin says Ukraine must accept partial occupation and other measures to limit its sovereignty. Kyiv says Moscow must withdraw all its troops, pay reparations and face a war crimes tribunal.
“I really don’t understand this,” German foreign minister Annalena Baerbock said of the pope’s comments.
“You understand what’s happening there when you see a bombed kindergarten, when you talk to women, when you talk to children whose friends were kidnapped in eastern Ukraine… Then I ask myself, where is the pope? The pope must know about these things,” she added. “If we don’t show strength now, then there will be no peace.”
Russia has arrested a South Korean man on spying charges, in what state news agencies said was the first such case involving the two countries in modern history.
South Korea supports sanctions on Russia and is reportedly supplying shells “indirectly” to Ukraine, either by sending them via another country or by “backfilling” US arms stocks depleted by deliveries to Kyiv. At the same time, Moscow is deepening ties with North Korea and receiving shells and ballistic missiles from Pyongyang.
Ms Baerbock said an “option” for Germany to bypass concerns over supplying powerful Taurus cruise missiles directly to Ukraine was to send them to Britain to replace somewhat similar Storm Shadow rockets that London is providing to Kyiv.
