NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on Monday that he does not agree with the statements of Pope Francis that Ukraine should have “white flag courage”and negotiate an end to the war sparked by the Russian invasion, Reuters reports.

Secretary General of the Western military alliance Jens Stoltenberg, who was present at the ceremony of raising the Swedish flag at the NATO headquarters in Brussels on Monday, insisted on the need to continue supporting Ukraine.

Asked about the Pope’s words, the Secretary General of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization told Reuters:

• “If we want a peaceful and lasting solution through negotiations, the way to do that is to provide military support to Ukraine.”

In an interview at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Stoltenberg said that “what happens at the negotiating table is closely related to strength on the battlefield.”

• When asked if his reaction means that now is not the time to talk about the white flag, Stoltenberg replied: “It is not the time to talk about the surrender of Ukrainians. It will be a tragedy for Ukrainians. It will also be dangerous for all of us.”

• “President Putin started this war and could end it today. But Ukraine does not have such a choice. Surrender does not mean peace,” he also said, according to AFP.

• “We must continue to strengthen Ukraine to show President Putin that he will not get what he wants on the battlefield, and that he must sit down at the negotiating table,” Stoltenberg continued, while confirming that Kyiv is “closer than ever to something” before joining NATO”, reports News.ro.

The Kremlin “understands” the Pope

On Monday, the Kremlin said that Pope Francis’ call for negotiations to end the war in Ukraine is clear. In addition, Putin’s press secretary Dmitry Peskov claims that Russia is ready to sit down at the negotiating table, but it is Kyiv that refuses to negotiate because of its mistaken belief that the West can defeat Russia.

• “It is quite easy to understand that he (Pope of Rome) spoke in favor of negotiations,” said Kremlin press secretary Dmytro Peskov, answering journalists’ questions about the words of the sovereign pontiff.

Peskov noted that President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly spoken about Russia’s readiness and openness to negotiations, but it was Ukraine that rejected such proposals.

• “Unfortunately, both the Pope’s statements and the repeated statements of other parties, including ours, have recently been met with absolutely strict rejections,” said Peskov.

Putin’s press secretary also said that the situation on the battlefield testifies to the fallacy of the West’s hopes of inflicting a “strategic defeat” on Russia. “This is the deepest delusion, the biggest mistake, and the course of events, primarily on the battlefield, is the clearest proof of this,” Peskov said.

How realistic is the prospect of negotiations

Earlier, the Russian Foreign Ministry commented that Pope Francis’ call for negotiations was actually a request to Kiev’s Western allies to abandon their desire to defeat Russia and to admit the West’s mistake in the war in Ukraine. “From my point of view, the Pope is asking the West to put aside his ambitions and admit the fact that he was wrong,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said, as quoted by the ANSA news agency.

Putin claims that shortly after the troops entered Ukraine, Moscow and Kyiv almost agreed on a ceasefire, but it was broken by Britain.

For its part, Reuters reported last month that the United States rejected a brokered offer to Putin for a ceasefire to freeze the war in Ukraine. As the West ponders how to support Ukraine and the prospect of a sudden shift in U.S. policy if Donald Trump wins the presidential election in November, Putin has essentially offered to freeze the battlefield on his line’s current front.

Zelensky, who in 2022 signed a decree ruling out negotiations with Putin, said last week that Russia would not be invited to the first peace summit to be held in Switzerland.

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