NATO chief tells Pope surrender is not peace
Photo: NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg (Getty Images)
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg rejects Pope's call for Ukraine to raise the white flag and start negotiations with Russia, according to NTV.
"Surrender is not peace. President (Vladimir - ed.) Putin started this war and can end it today. Ukraine, on the other hand, does not have such an opportunity," he says.
At the same time, Stoltenberg calls on all allies to continue to provide military support to Kyiv.
Pope's scandalous statement
The day before, Reuters published a summary of a fragment of the Pope's interview with the Swiss TV channel RSI. In the interview, the pontiff, answering the question of whether Ukraine should raise a "white flag" and negotiate with Russia, supported this position.
The Vatican later stated that the Pope did not mean Ukraine's surrender. According to the head of the Vatican's press service, Matteo Bruni, the pontiff spoke only about the need for negotiations.
However, the Pope's words caused a flurry of criticism among Western leaders and politicians. In particular, Latvia and Poland criticized the pontiff's statement. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba urged the Pope not to repeat the mistakes of the past and to support Ukraine.
At the same time, Japanese Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi, responding to the Pope's statement, said that Ukraine's will must be respected.
