Zelenskiy Says Ukraine Sending Delegation to London Talks on Settling War

20 April 2025, Ukraine, Kyiv: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, wearing a traditional embroidered shirt known as a vyshyvanka, addresses the nation in front of St. Sophia Cathedral on Easter Sunday. (Ukraine Presidency/dpa)
20 April 2025, Ukraine, Kyiv: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, wearing a traditional embroidered shirt known as a vyshyvanka, addresses the nation in front of St. Sophia Cathedral on Easter Sunday. (Ukraine Presidency/dpa)
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Zelenskiy Says Ukraine Sending Delegation to London Talks on Settling War

20 April 2025, Ukraine, Kyiv: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, wearing a traditional embroidered shirt known as a vyshyvanka, addresses the nation in front of St. Sophia Cathedral on Easter Sunday. (Ukraine Presidency/dpa)
20 April 2025, Ukraine, Kyiv: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, wearing a traditional embroidered shirt known as a vyshyvanka, addresses the nation in front of St. Sophia Cathedral on Easter Sunday. (Ukraine Presidency/dpa)

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Monday that Kyiv was sending a delegation to talks in London on Wednesday with Western countries on finding a resolution to the more than three-year-old war with Russia.

"We are ready to move forward as constructively as possible, just as we have done before, to achieve an unconditional ceasefire, followed by the establishment of a real and lasting peace," Zelenskiy wrote on the X social media platform.

Zelenskiy said a 30-hour Easter truce proclaimed by Russia, which each side accused the other of violating, showed that it was Russia's actions "that are prolonging the war".

He also said he had a "good and detailed conversation" with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer.



Pope Leo Appeals for Israel to Allow Humanitarian Aid in Gaza 

Pope Leo XIV blesses the crowd at the end of his first weekly general audience at St. Peter's Square in The Vatican on May 21, 2025. (AFP)
Pope Leo XIV blesses the crowd at the end of his first weekly general audience at St. Peter's Square in The Vatican on May 21, 2025. (AFP)
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Pope Leo Appeals for Israel to Allow Humanitarian Aid in Gaza 

Pope Leo XIV blesses the crowd at the end of his first weekly general audience at St. Peter's Square in The Vatican on May 21, 2025. (AFP)
Pope Leo XIV blesses the crowd at the end of his first weekly general audience at St. Peter's Square in The Vatican on May 21, 2025. (AFP)

Pope Leo XIV on Wednesday appealed for Israel to allow humanitarian aid to enter Gaza, calling the situation in the Palestinian enclave "yet more worrying and saddening".

"I renew my fervent appeal to allow for the entry of fair humanitarian help and to bring to an end the hostilities, the devastating price of which is paid by children, the elderly and the sick," the pope said during his weekly general audience in St. Peter's Square.

Leo, the former Cardinal Robert Prevost, was elected the leader of the Catholic Church on May 8 to succeed the late Pope Francis. He has mentioned the situation in Gaza several times in the first weeks of his papacy.

In his first Sunday message on May 11, the new pope called for an immediate ceasefire and for the release of all Israeli hostages held by Hamas.

Israel said on Monday that it would allow aid to enter Gaza after an 11-week blockade on the enclave, but the United Nations said no help had been distributed as of Tuesday.

Leo's appeal comes a day after British Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced his government had paused free trade talks with Israel and summoned the Israeli ambassador to the UK over the situation in Gaza.

Israel says it plans to intensify military operations against Hamas and to control the whole of Gaza, which has been devastated by an Israeli air and ground war since Hamas' cross-border attack on Israeli communities in October 2023.

Israel has said its blockade is aimed in part at preventing Palestinian gunmen from diverting and seizing aid supplies. Hamas has denied doing so.