Russia, NATO at odds over pope’s call for Ukraine to show ‘white flag’

Moscow said the pope’s comment was ‘quite understandable’ while NATO said ‘it’s not the time to talk about surrender’.

The Kremlin has said Pope Francis’s call for talks to end the Ukraine war was “quite understandable”, while NATO’s secretary general said now was not the time to talk about “surrender”.

Pope Francis said in an interview recorded last month that Ukraine should have “the courage of the white flag” to negotiate an end to a war that is now in its third year.

As Russia makes gains on the battlefield, the West grapples with how to support Ukraine and the prospect of a dramatic change in US policy if Donald Trump wins November’s presidential election.

“It is quite understandable that he [the pope] spoke in favour of negotiations,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Monday.

He said Russian President Vladimir Putin had repeatedly said his country was open to peace talks.