Zelenskyy asks Vatican to formalize mediation role for return of Ukrainians taken by Russia World Nov 19, 2025 2:25 PM EST

ROME (AP) — Ukraine has asked the Vatican to formalize its role facilitating negotiations over the return of Ukrainian children and civilians taken by Russia during the nearly four-year war, a Kyiv government official said Wednesday.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy made the request in a letter to Pope Leo XIV ahead of an audience Friday between the pope and a delegation of returned Ukrainian children and civilians. At a briefing Wednesday, the young people described being subject to Russian propaganda and their trauma at being separated from loved ones.

Zelenskyy’s letter asked that Leo formalize the informal arrangement launched by Pope Francis in which an Italian

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