Upwards of 30,000 civilians are estimated to have been killed.
The spirit of war is the opposite: destroy, destroy… Dont let it grow, destroy everyone.
Men, women, children, the elderly, everyone.
Pope Francis holds a Ukrainian flag after a screening at the Vatican of the documentary ‘Freedom on Fire.’ Vatican City, Friday, February 24, 2023Courtesy of the Vatican
At one point he played with the popes cane and even nibbled at it.
Afterwards, Zaitseva, Nagorna and a select group of others held a private audience with the pope.
She said he is being held somewhere in a Russian prisoner of war camp.
Pope Francis offers a prayer for Ukraine after a screening of ‘Freedom on Fire.’ To his left is director Evgeny Afineevsky.Courtesy of Matthew Carey
They have to stop Putin, stop Russia, stop totalitarianism, stop genocide, ecocide.
Zaitseva said watching the film brought back vivid and wrenching memories.
I was in tears and its very painful.
Zaitseva added, The war is not like in the Hollywood movies.
The war is ugly.
I dont like when people are trying to make war like in a more poetic way.
In the war there is nothing poetic, there is nothing beautiful.
War is ugly, war is something that shouldnt exist nowadays in the 21stcentury.
Let us not be ashamed to suffer and cry, because war is destruction.
A war always diminishes us.
May God make us understand this.
