President Vladimir Putin told Pope Leo he had agreed to cooperate after the pontiff asked him on Friday to help get vital supplies into the Russian-controlled Ukrainian town of Oleshky, the Kremlin said.
Residents have reported a deepening food crisis. The Vatican said earlier on Friday that he is showing steady improvement and is able to work and do normal daily activities. It did not mention a ceasefire.
Leo phoned Putin and asked him to arrange a ceasefire to let aid and food into the town, taken by Russian forces in February 2022, the Vatican said. Leo and Putin are known to have spoken once previously, in June 2025. The pope, 71, is recovering at Rome’s Gemelli hospital after surgery for lung cancer. Oleshky, in Ukraine’s Kherson region, had a pre-war population of some 24,000, and is still home to around 1,700 residents, including 47 children, according to Danielle Bell, head of the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine.
“The Vatican’s intention to help create the conditions necessary to ensure the safety of the town’s population and to organise vital supplies has been supported,” the Kremlin said in a statement. The pope also reaffirmed the Holy See’s commitment to any initiatives for peace, the Vatican said. The Kremlin said Putin had wished Leo a speedy and full recovery. The Vatican’s Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, told reporters after the call that it had been Leo’s initiative. The pope, he said, wanted “to plead the cause of this besieged city”.
