Rome, 11 May 2022 – Pope francesco meets the wives of Ukrainian fighters. They are not soldiers of the official army, but of the well-known Azov battalion, the regiment that is leading Mariupol’s last desperate resistance, in the Azovstal steel plant. A strong gesture on the part of the Pontiff, destined to cause discussion. The battalion was born as a nationalist paramilitary group in the early stages of the Donbass war, is accused of hosting neo-Nazi figures, and in the past has been accused of war crimes.
At the end of today’s general audience in St. Peter’s Square, the Pope, still bruised from knee problems, will stop with Kateryna Prokopenkomoglie del comandante di Azov, Denis Prokopenko, e Yulia Fedosiuk, wife of Arseniy Fedosiuk. The two young women, in recent days had written to the Holy Father asking for a meeting and yesterday the surprise invitation arrived. Two other wives were to be present at the appointment, but they did not manage to arrive in time from Poland.
In recent days, the Pope had already been sent a letter from the relatives of the “besieged of Mariupol” so that he could take action to facilitate their evacuation and salvation. And today’s gesture can be read as a response to that appeal. According to what has been learned, before receiving the wives of the officers of the controversial Battalion in the general audience, Francesco had the necessary information gathered. His invitation was then delivered to them yesterday through diplomatic channels.
Kateryna Prokopenko and Yulya Fedosiuk had already been to Italy: the Russian-Canadian artist and dissident anti-Putin activist Pyotr Verzilov, formerly an unofficial spokesperson for the punk rock collective Pussy Riot, also acted as an intermediary for them with the Vatican. with arrests in Russia and also a suspected attempted poisoning.
Pope Francis and knee pain
Even today Pope Francis is unable to move due to the knee problem: “I would like to apologize because to greet you I will not be able to come to you because of the knee which is still sick – he told the crowd – you will have to walk to me, but it is the same : I receive you with my heart in my hand, it’s the same “. The Pope arrived in the square sitting on the popemobile. To then reach the chair, from which he taught the catechesis, he leaned on his collaborators without using a wheelchair.
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“They are not soldiers of the official army.”
Correction: Azov was formed as a patrol police unit, then transferred to and is now part of National Guard of Ukraine.