Pope Francis has written a letter to Sviatoslav, abbot of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church. In it, the Pope condemned Russian large-scale missile strikes on Ukraine and expressed his concern that the war in Ukraine may be forgotten.

In his response to Sviatoslav’s letter from 29 December, Francis called Russia’s actions "unworthy and unacceptable", stressed that they "cannot be justified in any way" and expressed his "closeness to long-suffering Ukraine".

Pope Francis also considers it quite dangerous that "against the backdrop of dramatic international events, there is a risk that the war in Ukraine could become a 'forgotten' war".

"It is our duty to do everything we can to ensure that this war is not shrouded in silence, not only to be horrified by the tragic facts but, above all, to compel all those responsible and the international community to seek peaceful solutions," he said.

At the end of last year, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had a conversation with Pope Francis.

In addition to this, at the Christmas Mass, Francis called for peace, mentioning people in different parts of the world suffering due to the war.