The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine has summoned the Apostolic Nuncio to Ukraine Visvaldas Kulbokas due to the statement of Pope Francis on Independence Day, which coincided with half a year of a full-scale Russian invasion.

The diplomatic representative of the Vatican was told that Ukraine is “deeply disappointed with the words of the pontiff, which unfairly equate the aggressor and the victim”.

“At the same time, the decision of Pope Francis to mention in the context of the Russian-Ukrainian war the death of a Russian citizen (Daria Dugina - ed.) causes misunderstanding.. ) on the territory of Russia, to which Ukraine has nothing to do,” the statement reads..

Diplomats also drew the nuncio's attention to the fact that over these six months, Francis has never paid special attention to specific victims of the war, among which there are already 376 Ukrainian children who died at the hands of Russian invaders..

The ministry hopes that in the future the Holy See will avoid unfair statements that cause disappointment in Ukrainian society.

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On August 24, Pope Francis commented on Dugina's death with the words:

" The innocent pay for the war" The pontiff also noted a number of controversial statements, for example, "

The pontiff's statement caused outrage in Ukraine, he was criticized by Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba and Ukrainian Ambassador to the Vatican Andriy Yurash. The ambassador recalled that Dugina was an ardent supporter of the war against Ukraine, and noted that “one cannot speak in the same categories about the aggressor and the victim, the rapist and the raped”.