Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy during a visit to the Vatican presented Pope Francis a soldier’s bulletproof vest painted with an image of the Madonna and asked him to back Kyiv's peace plan
"It is a great honour," Zelenskiy told Francis, putting his hand to his heart and bowing his head as he greeted the 86-year-old pope, who stood with a cane.
Zelenskiy, who was visiting Rome for the first time since the war began, spoke with the pope for 40 minutes and presented him with a bulletproof vest that had been used by a Ukrainian soldier and later painted with an image of the Madonna. Kyiv estimates nearly 19,500 children have been taken to Russia or Russian-occupied Crimea since February 2022, in what it condemns as illegal deportations.
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