Throughout the two months of Russia’s war against Ukraine, Pope Francis three times asked Vladimir Putin to greenlight a humanitarian evacuation corridor for Mariupol civilians, but the Russian president refused, claiming he could not guarantee their safety.
This was reported by the Italian newspaper Il Messaggero, citing sources.
For the first two times, Francis offered Putin to allow evacuating Mariupol residents through a humanitarian corridor to territories controlled by Ukraine. These requests were forwarded to Putin in late March and closer to Easter – through confidential channels.
As Il Messaggero has learned, the Pope was ready to send his trusted cardinal for humanitarian affairs, Konrad Krajewski, to Mariupol from Poland. The cardinal was accompanying the ambulance vehicle donated by the Vatican.
The third time, the pope offered to evacuate civilians from Azovstal, a massive metallurgical plant that remains the last stronghold of Ukrainian defenders where a group of civilians are sheltering, on a ship flying the flag of the Holy See – probably because it would be easier to pick up people from the plant through the port from a logistical point of view.
