Pope Leo XIV calls Zelensky to press for humanitarian truce in besieged Oleshky

Pope Leo XIV spoke by telephone today with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and again made the situation in Oleshky, a city in Ukraine's Kherson region under siege by Russian forces, the focus of the conversation. The call comes just days after the pope spoke with Vladimir Putin on Friday, October 16, while he was still in the Gemelli hospital in Rome, to ask for a humanitarian truce in the same city.

The Vatican's message to Zelensky

According to the statement from the Holy See Press Office, "during the conversation, the Holy Father recalled the grave situation in the city of Oleshky, in the Kherson region, and referred to the request for a humanitarian truce already presented to the president of the Russian Federation."

The statement said the pope expressed his hope that cooperation between the two sides would allow food and medical aid to reach the city, along with the voluntary and safe evacuation of civilians, and that "finally, he reaffirmed the commitment of the Holy See to dialogue and peace."

Oleshky

Oleshky sits on the left bank of the Dnieper River and has around 2,000 residents, among them about 50 children. They have gone months without running water, electricity, medicines or emergency services.

The bridge linking the city to Kherson was destroyed in November 2022, cutting the main link, and the roads out of the city and the approaches to nearby towns remain mined. Kyiv accuses Russian forces of blocking humanitarian corridors. Moscow blames the Ukrainian authorities.

The pope's diplomatic contacts

Leo XIV himself took the initiative in calling Putin, according to Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican secretary of state. In that conversation the pope asked for "a truce that would allow the arrival of food and medical aid, as well as the voluntary and safe evacuation of the civilian population."

He repeated the same request to Zelensky. The pope has described acting as a "missionary of peace" as the central vocation of his pontificate, and in a recent speech in Metz, France, he called the war in Ukraine a "senseless massacre."

Earlier contacts with Zelensky

This is not the first time Leo XIV and Zelensky have spoken by telephone. On May 12, 2025, four days after his election in the conclave, the pope made his first official call to the Ukrainian president. Zelensky invited him to visit Kyiv and said Ukraine was ready to resume negotiations in any format.

The two met in person on May 18, with the president's wife, Olena, present, immediately after the Mass inaugurating the pontificate in St. Peter's Square. They met again on July 9, 2025, at Villa Barberini, the papal residence at Castel Gandolfo, where they discussed the possibility of the Vatican hosting future peace negotiations.

A third meeting took place on December 9, also at Castel Gandolfo. At the end of the audience the two appeared together on the balcony. They discussed keeping channels of dialogue open, the situation of prisoners of war and the Ukrainian children taken to Russian territory.

Vatican efforts

Those issues have also been the focus of the work of Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, who has traveled twice to Kyiv and twice to Moscow. Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, the Vatican's secretary for relations with states and international organizations, traveled to the region last summer.

On April 3, at Easter, Leo XIV contacted Zelensky again during a new escalation in the fighting, with large-scale Russian drone and missile attacks on several Ukrainian regions. The pope expressed his solidarity with the population and stressed the need for urgent humanitarian assistance, the release of prisoners and progress toward a negotiated peace.

He has made the same appeals throughout the 17 months of his pontificate.