Local women stand next to their house heavily damaged by a Russian drone strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Odesa, February 24, 2024. REUTERS/Stringer/File Photo
VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Francis on Sunday called for a diplomatic solution to the war in Ukraine that would lead to a just and lasting peace, as the second anniversary of Russia's invasion was marked a day earlier.
"So many victims, wounded, destruction, anguish, and tears in a period that is becoming terribly long and whose end is not in sight. It is a war that not only devastates that region but also unleashes global waves of hate and fear", Pope Francis said during his weekly Angelus message.
"I plead for that little bit of humanity to be found to create the conditions for a diplomatic solution in search of a just and lasting peace", he said.
Heads of the Group of Seven major democracies on Saturday pledged to stand by war-weary Ukraine, and Western leaders traveled to Kyiv to show solidarity on the second anniversary of Russia's invasion.
(Reporting by Gianluca Semeraro; Editing by Bernadette Baum)
