Pope Francis at a press conference on the plane on September 23
Reuters reported on September 24 that Pope Francis said some countries were "playing games" with Ukraine, initially providing weapons and then considering withdrawing commitments.
He made the comments while on a plane returning from the French port city of Marseille, answering a reporter's question about whether he was frustrated that his efforts to bring peace had not been successful.
Pope Francis sent Italian Cardinal Matteo Zuppi to Ukraine, Russia, the United States and China to meet with leaders. Francis shared some of his frustrations and then started talking about the arms industry and war.
"It seems to me that the interests in this war are not only related to the Ukraine-Russia issue but also to arms sales... I see now that some countries are backing away, not wanting to supply weapons to Ukraine. A process is starting in which the casualties will certainly be the Ukrainian people and that is a bad thing," he said.
Clarifying the above ideas, Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said that Pope Francis did not take a position on whether countries should continue or stop sending weapons to Ukraine.
“It is a reflection on the consequences of the arms industry. The Pope said that arms dealers never suffer the consequences of their choices but leave it to the people, like the Ukrainians,” said Mr Bruni.
In another development, CNN on September 24 quoted Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov as saying that the US and other allies are "directly at war" with Russia. He made the comment when answering a reporter's question about the extent to which the US is directly involved in the war in Ukraine.
The diplomat accused the US, UK and many other countries of "warmongering" and hostile actions against Russia. He criticized the above countries for increasingly supplying weapons to Kyiv, while military satellites and spy planes from these countries were also used against Moscow.
The above countries have not commented.
Regarding the trip of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, the leader stopped by Poland on September 23, after visiting the US and Canada. According to Reuters, he did not meet any officials, in the context of the two countries' tension over grain import and export issues.
Last week, Poland decided to extend a ban on grain imports from Ukraine, shaking Ukraine's relationship with its neighbor, which has been one of its closest allies since Russia sent troops into Ukraine.
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