Vatican City • Just three days after undergoing surgery for lung cancer, Pope Leo XIV on Friday spoke by telephone with Russian President Vladimir Putin to call for a ceasefire for civilians to evacuate a besieged city in Ukraine, the Vatican and the Kremlin said.
[On Friday, the Vatican also released the first pictures of the pope since his surgery.]
Since his election in May 2025, Leo has called repeatedly for an immediate halt to the fighting in Ukraine and for diplomacy leading to a lasting peace. That he would wade into the topic again while still in a Rome hospital, recuperating after having part of a lung removed, highlights his commitment to the issue.
This time, the 71-year-old Catholic pontiff focused on a particular corner of the war, the small city of Oleshky, in the southern Kherson region, where about 2,000 civilians including some 40 children are trapped and hungry, according to Ukrainian officials. Vendors used to regularly bring food to sell in Oleshky’s markets, but those deliveries ended in May after people attempting to enter and exit the town were killed by mines or drones on the main road in and out.
The Vatican said in a statement that Leo had appealed to Putin for food and medical assistance to be delivered to the town and for a safe corridor to be opened to allow people to leave.
Putin “thanked the pope for his willingness to contribute to the resolution of the conflict and his ongoing humanitarian efforts,” according to a statement from the Kremlin. It added that Putin “supported the Vatican’s intention to facilitate the creation of conditions to ensure the safety of the city’s population and organize vital supplies. Cooperation in this regard was agreed upon.”
Previous statements about commitment to humanitarian aid and evacuation along Ukraine’s front lines have often yielded little.
Ukraine has blamed Russia for the stranglehold on the city and repeatedly called for an evacuation in recent months. Russia has not yet agreed to a safe corridor for evacuation but has acknowledged the humanitarian crisis and blamed Ukraine.
Civilians who escaped Oleshky in recent months described severe hunger and said they were surviving on what little they could harvest from their own gardens. Ukrainian officials have warned that residents are at risk of starvation. Ukrainian troops have delivered some food by drones, but locals said Russian troops stole some of the packages and intimidated people who tried to collect them.
Note to readers • This article originally appeared in The New York Times.