Burrell condemned the Pope’s remarks about the “white flag of Ukraine”.

Borrell’s comments came after Pope Francis, the head of the Catholic Church, said in an interview with Switzerland’s RSI television channel last weekend that if Kiev were to wave a “white flag” and enter into peace talks with Russia, it would be a showdown. Courage will come from Kiev.

The diplomat said during an interview with Spanish radio RNE on Thursday: “The Holy Pope entered the garden where no one invited him…, but asking Ukraine to surrender is more than a wish for peace.”

Borrell further stated that he believes that “now is not the time to offer Ukraine surrender.” On the contrary, this is the moment when we should continue to help.”

The EU’s top diplomat is the latest official to weigh in on the pope’s remarks, which sparked outrage in Kiev and beyond. Many European officials have said that they saw these statements as a request from Ukraine to surrender to Russia.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a statement Sunday, without referring to Pope Francis, that religious figures trying to help Ukraine “are with the people, not somewhere two and a half thousand kilometers away.”

Meanwhile, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kolba responded to the Pope’s claims that it was necessary to accept defeat and “show courage and negotiate,” stressing that a strong person always “stands on the side of good,” stressing that the flag of Ukraine is the only thing by which the country “lives, dies and will win.”

Meanwhile, the Kremlin, while supporting the Pope’s statements, announced that Moscow has repeatedly called for negotiations.

Even after the collapse of talks between Moscow and Kyiv in the spring of 2022, Russia has repeatedly stressed that it is ready for meaningful peace talks and blames the lack of diplomatic progress on the Ukrainian authorities.

However, Kiev and its Western backers have insisted that a deal is possible only on Ukraine’s terms, promoting Zelensky’s so-called peace formula, which calls for the non-negotiable return of all former Ukrainian territories.