The Holy See Press Office reported on the afternoon of Friday, October 16, the telephone conversation between Leo XIV and the President of the Russian Federation. The brief Vatican communiqué, focused on a single issue, places at the forefront the situation in Oleshky, a town on the left bank of the Dnieper that has remained under Russian occupation since the early months of the 2022 invasion.
According to the official note, during the conversation the Holy Father expressed “his deep concern over the grave humanitarian situation in the city of Oleshky, in the Kherson region”, and called for “a ceasefire that would allow the delivery of food and medical assistance, as well as the voluntary and safe evacuation of the civilian population”. The text concludes by noting that the Pope reaffirmed “the Holy See’s commitment to promoting dialogue and peace”.
A call from the hospital room
The conversation takes place while the Pontiff is still recovering. Leo XIV was admitted on Tuesday, October 13, to the Agostino Gemelli University Polyclinic, where he underwent surgery for a nodule in his right lung. Medical bulletins released by the Holy See later confirmed it was pulmonary adenocarcinoma and that the lower right lobe was removed. The latest reports describe a favorable evolution, and the Pope has resumed part of his work, although his audiences remain suspended until October 20.
That the Pontiff should dedicate one of his first public gestures after the operation to a specific city on the Ukrainian front underscores the priority the Vatican diplomacy gives to the humanitarian dimension of the conflict. The communiqué does not specify who initiated the call nor does it record the Russian president’s response.
An isolated city on the left bank of the Dnieper
The situation in Oleshky has been the subject of repeated alerts in recent months. Ukrainian authorities denounce that the blockade prevents the arrival of supplies and the departure of civilians, and estimate that the population has drastically decreased since the start of the war. At the end of September, the Council of Europe’s Commissioner for Human Rights, Michael O’Flaherty, likewise called for a ceasefire in the area, humanitarian access, and the safe evacuation of the population. Moscow, for its part, attributes the difficulties to Ukrainian attacks. Access to the city is highly restricted, making independent verification of the data difficult.
This is not the first conversation between the two. Leo XIV and Putin spoke by telephone for the first time on June 4, 2025, less than a month after the conclave. On that occasion, according to the Press Office, the Pope asked Russia for a gesture in favor of peace and also addressed the humanitarian issue and the prisoner exchanges in which Cardinal Matteo Zuppi is working.
The new call maintains the line of that first contact: a Vatican diplomacy that avoids the political terrain and concentrates its requests on the protection of the civilian population, humanitarian aid, and the opening of channels for dialogue.