Ukraine conflict threatens ‘the peace of all’
Pope Francis said Wednesday that “increasingly alarming scenarios” were emerging in Ukraine that were threatening “the peace of all” amid fears of a Russian invasion.
“Despite the diplomatic efforts of these past weeks, increasingly alarming scenarios are emerging,” the pontiff said at the end of his weekly general audience.
“I ask all of the parties involved to abstain from any action that could cause still more suffering for the population,” he said.
Francis also said that next Wednesday, which is Ash Wednesday in the Christian calendar and the beginning of the period of Lent, would be a “day of fasting and of prayer for peace.”
“So that the reign of peace can preserve the world against the madness of war,” he said.
The pope has already called for peace in Ukraine.
But the latest comments are his strongest yet and come two days after Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered “peacekeepers” to move into two breakaway Ukrainian regions now recognized by Moscow as independent.
The move has further raised fear Russia could move into other parts of Ukraine.
Meanwhile, in eastern Europe, a region once ruled by Moscow with deep resentment against Russia, unverified claims and anti-Western disinformation are making surprising inroads as the regional crisis deepens.
In Slovakia, which neighbors Ukraine, disinformation about the situation has been widely shared even by some members of parliament.
Lubos Blaha from the leftist opposition Smer party, who has over 170,000 Facebook followers, posted after Putin’s speech questioning Ukraine’s existence that “I’m convinced [Putin] wants peace.”
Blaha claimed that Ukraine “provoked and threatened Russia” while “the West was hectoring it.”
He added that the country is “controlled by oligarchic clans, neonazism and russophobia are on the rise, and corruption is in full bloom.”
In the weeks leading up to Putin’s decision to authorize Russian troops to enter eastern Ukraine, various videos circulated online in the region, supposedly showing Ukrainian troops getting ready for invasion or entering Russian territory.
AFP Fact Check found that many of these videos showed unrelated military drills filmed years earlier. Some of the footage came from 2014 when Russia annexed Crimea, while another video was a 2018 fake masquerading as a BBC report.
Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic told TV Pink this week that 85 percent of his countrymen will “always side with Russia whatever may happen.”
Serbian tabloids this week repeated an unverified claim that Russian forces had destroyed two Ukrainian armored vehicles that entered Russia.
“Ukraine attacked Russia!” screamed the front pages of Serbian tabloids on Tuesday, hours after Russian President Vladimir Putin announced he would recognize two separatist regions in Ukraine and order troops to be sent in.