Ukraine has criticized on Sunday a call by Pope Francis for Kyiv to negotiate an end to its war with Russia and have “the courage to raise the white flag,” vowing never to surrender.
This came as Kyiv said Sunday it downed 35 Russian drones across 10 regions, including in the capital region. Sources also confirmed that both sides have suffered casualties and injuries during mutual waves of assaults.
Our Flag is Yellow and Blue
Earlier on Sunday, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said on X: “Our flag is a yellow and blue one. This is the flag by which we live, die, and prevail. We shall never raise any other flags.”
He added, “At the same time, when it comes to the white flag, we know this Vatican's strategy from the first half of the twentieth century. "I urge (the Vatican) to avoid repeating the mistakes of the past and to support Ukraine and its people in their just struggle for their lives," he wrote.
Kuleba’s comments appeared to refer to World War II.
The FM then said that after two years of devastating war in the heart of Europe, the Pontiff will find an opportunity to pay an Apostolic visit to Ukraine to support over a million Ukrainian Catholics, over five million Greek-Catholics, all Christians, and all Ukrainians.
In an interview with Swiss broadcaster RSI broadcasted on Saturday, the Pope was asked to comment on the situation in Ukraine. “When you see that you are defeated, that things are not going well, you have to have the courage to negotiate,” he said.
The Pope added, “The strongest one is the one who looks at the situation, thinks about the people and has the courage of the white flag, and negotiates.”
His comments drove an indirect response from Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk, the head of Ukraine’s Greek Catholic Church, which encompasses more than 5 million people.
“Ukraine is exhausted, but it stands and will endure. Believe me, it never crosses anyone’s mind to surrender. Even where there is fighting today: listen to our people in Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Odesa, Kharkiv, Sumy,” Shevchuk said while meeting with Ukrainians in New York City.
Casualties in Russian-Ukrainian Fighting
Meanwhile, Russian airstrikes have left at least three dead and 12 wounded in eastern Ukraine, according to a local official, while a woman was killed in Ukrainian shelling on a Russian village near the border.
Vadym Filashkin, the governor of Donetsk region in Ukraine, stated, “During the night, the Russians attacked Dmytrivka (a town about 45 kilometers from the front line) with drones, and in the morning, rescue workers found the bodies of two people under the rubble of a house.”
A 66-year-old man was also killed in the frontline town of Chasiv Yar, Filashkin said.
He added that Russian forces launched three S-300 missiles at the city of Myrnograd.
The strike wounded 12 people and nine buildings were damaged in explosions.
39 Drones
Ukrainian air defense units destroyed 35 of the 39 Shahed-type drones that Russia launched overnight, the air force said.
In Russia, a woman died as a result of Ukraine's shelling of the village of Kulbaki in Kursk, a local official said on Sunday.
“A residential building caught fire and a local female resident died,” Governor Roman Starovoit said on the Telegram messaging app. “Her husband suffered extensive burns.”
On Saturday, the Russian Defense Ministry said it had destroyed 47 Ukrainian drones over its southern regions overnight, mostly in the Rostov area bordering Ukraine.
