CEASE-FIRE APPEAL

Pope Leo XIV Urges Putin to Halt Fighting Around Oleshky

Pope Leo XIV appealed to Vladimir Putin for a cease-fire for Oleshky, where roughly 2,000 people are reportedly trapped by mines and drones and face starvation.

BharatVox · 17 October 2026 at 12:41 am IST

Pope Leo XIV (Robert Francis Prevost) — archive photograph (2025-05-12); not the reported event — Edgar Beltrán , The Pillar, CC BY-SA 4.0

Pope Leo XIV spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin to seek a cease-fire for the Ukrainian city of Oleshky, where mines and drones have left around 2,000 people trapped and at risk of starvation, according to The New York Times.

The report described the pontiff as recovering from lung cancer surgery when he made the appeal. The available summary does not give Putin’s response or indicate whether any cease-fire or arrangements to deliver aid were agreed.

#Pope Leo XIV#Vladimir Putin#Oleshky#Ukraine#Cease-fire#Humanitarian crisis

Fact-check this story · Source: The New York Times: Pope Asks Putin for a Cease-Fire for a Ukrainian City Under Siege. This AI-assisted account is based on the linked source, not independent on-the-ground reporting by BharatVox. Any opinion is separately labelled.

Join the conversation (0)