Pope Francis has kissed a battered Ukrainian flag that was brought to him from the Ukrainian city of Bucha and called again for an end to the war.
Francis welcomed a half-dozen Ukrainian children up to the stage of the Vatican audience hall at the end of his Wednesday general audience and gave them each a giant chocolate Easter egg. He urged prayers for them and for all Ukrainians.
He told the crowd: "These children had to flee to arrive in a safe place. This is the fruit of war."
He held up a dirtied Ukrainian flag that he said had arrived yesterday at the Vatican from Bucha, where evidence has emerged since the Russians pulled out of what appears to be intentional killings of civilians.
Kissing it, he said: "This flag comes from the war, from that martyred city Bucha. … Let us not forget them. Let us not forget the people of Ukraine."
The pontiff said the blood of the innocent civilians "cries up to the sky and implores that this war be stopped, and that the weapons be silenced".
Also Read | Russia faces war crime accusations after Bucha discovery: more sanctions on Moscow in the offing