Cardinal Zuppi begins two-day peace mission to Moscow

(ANSA) - ROME, JUN 28 - President of the Italian Bishops' Conference and Archbishop of Bologna Cardinal Matteo Zuppi began a two-day peace mission to Moscow on Wednesday, with his agenda remaining strictly confidential.
    However, it is understood that meetings at the Kremlin are scheduled for Wednesday or Thursday, initially specifically on the issue of Ukrainian children deported to Russia.
    On Wednesday, Russian foreign ministry sources told Russian news agency Ria Novosti that no meetings are planned with the papal envoy at the ministry.
    On Thursday evening Zuppi will instead preside over a Mass at the Catholic Cathedral in the Russian capital, while ANSA has learned from well-informed sources that meetings at the Russian Orthodox Patriarchate, most likely with Patriarch Kirill, are expected to take place in the morning.
    On Tuesday the Vatican issued a statement announcing the mission, the main aim of which is to "encourage gestures of humanity, which can contribute to fostering a solution to the current tragic situation and find ways to achieve a just peace".
    The visit comes on the heels of a similar mission to Kyiv in early June, when Zuppi met with representatives of the civil and religious authorities and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
    "The results of these talks, [...], as well as the direct experience of the atrocious suffering of the Ukrainian people due to the ongoing war, will be brought to the Holy Father's attention and will undoubtedly be useful in evaluating the steps to be continued to take both at the humanitarian level and in the search for paths to a just and lasting peace," the Vatican said in a statement after that mission.
    However, on Tuesday evening Ukraine said the country didn't need any outside mediation on the war caused by the Russian invasion.
    "Our position is clear and we have expressed it very openly: we do not need any mediation, and that is because we have had bad experiences. We do not trust Russia", said the head of the Ukrainian president's office, Andryi Yermak.
    He added, however, that should Zuppi achieve results on the problems of children deported to Russia and the exchange of prisoners, these would be welcome. (ANSA).