Ukraine reacted sharply after Pope Francis called Daria Dugin, the daughter of Russian ultra-nationalist writer Oleksandr Dugin, who was killed in Moscow on Saturday, an innocent victim of war, and the apostolic nuncio (Vatican ambassador) was summoned to the Foreign Ministry in Kyiv on Friday to a protest was sent after the Ukrainian ambassador to the Vatican criticized the sovereign pontiff’s statements.

“Ukraine is deeply disappointed by the words of the sovereign pontiff, who unfairly compares the aggressor and the victim,” the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said in a statement, EFE and Agerpres reported.

“At the same time, he takes seriously the decision of Pope Francis to mention in the context of the Russian-Ukrainian war the death of a Russian citizen on the territory of Russia, with which Ukraine has nothing to do,” the cited source adds. .

“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine draws the Apostolic Nuncio’s attention to the fact that since the beginning of the Russian Federation’s large-scale invasion of Ukraine, the Sovereign Pontiff has never paid special attention to the specific victims of the war, including 376 people. Ukrainian children who died at the hands of the Russian occupiers”, Kyiv also argues its protest against the statements of Pope Francis.

Finally, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine asks “that the Holy See in the future avoid unfair statements that cause disappointment in Ukrainian society.”

During his weekly general audience at the Vatican on Wednesday, Pope Francis emphasized that “the innocent pay for war” before referring to “the poor girl who was blown up by a bomb planted under the seat of a car in Moscow.”

The pontiff also described the Russian-Ukrainian war as “madness”, adding that both Ukrainian and Russian children were killed, many other children were orphaned and “orphans have no nationality”.

• Read also: The Ambassador of Ukraine to the Vatican criticized Pope Francis, who called Daria Dugin “innocent in the war”

Reacting to the message on Twitter, the Ambassador of Ukraine to the Vatican Andriy Yurash called the words of Pope Francis regarding Daria Dugina “disappointing”. “How can one of the ideologues of (Russian) imperialism be remembered as an innocent victim? The Russians killed her,” the Ukrainian ambassador wrote.

Russia blames the killing of Daria Dugina on Ukrainian special services, which it says acted through a female agent who would have been able to quickly cross the border into Estonia after the murder, while Kyiv denies any involvement.

Daria’s father, philosopher and writer-ultranationalist Oleksandr Dugin, advocates the unification of Russian-speaking regions and other territories in a new empire, which would also include Ukraine.

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