Putin agrees to cooperate with Pope Leo's plea for aid for Ukrainian town

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VATICAN CITY - President Vladimir Putin told Pope Leo he had agreed to cooperate after the pontiff asked him on Friday to help get vital supplies into the Russian-controlled Ukrainian town of Oleshky, the Kremlin said.

Leo phoned Putin and asked him to arrange a ceasefire to let aid and food into the town, taken by Russian forces in February 2022, the Vatican said. Residents have reported a deepening food crisis.

Leo expressed "deep concern" over the humanitarian situation there, the Vatican added. Russia and Ukraine accuse each other of blocking supplies to the town, which Ukrainian forces want to retake.

"The Vatican’s intention to help create the conditions necessary to ensure the safety of the town’s population and to organize vital supplies has been supported," the Kremlin said in a statement. It did not mention a ceasefire.

"It has been agreed to cooperate on this matter," it added.

Leo and Putin are known to have spoken once previously, in June 2025. The pope also reaffirmed the Holy See's commitment to any initiatives for peace, the Vatican said.

The pope, 71, is recovering at Rome's Gemelli hospital after surgery for lung cancer. The Vatican said earlier on Friday that he is showing steady improvement and is able to work and do normal daily activities. The Kremlin said Putin had wished Leo a speedy and full recovery.

The Vatican's Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, told reporters after the call that it had been Leo's initiative. The pope, he said, wanted "to plead the cause of this besieged city".

Russia has acknowledged critical problems with food and ​medical supplies in Oleshky and said its military was working to resolve them. It blamed Ukraine for the crisis, saying it was obstructing those supplies from getting to the town. Ukraine has said it is Russia which is thwarting food deliveries.

Oleshky, in Ukraine's Kherson region, had a pre-war population of some 24,000, and is still home to around 1,700 residents, including 47 children, according to Danielle Bell, head of the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine. —Reuters