Ukraine live briefing: Zelensky meets pope, hails ‘important meeting for approaching victory’ alongside Italian PM

The attacks follow strikes earlier in the day that hit the cities of Nikopol, Khmelnytskyi and Mykolaiv, local officials said. Air sirens also blared in the capital, Kyiv, and the port city of Odessa. Meanwhile, pro-Russian officials in Luhansk, a breakaway Ukrainian region backed and occupied by the Kremlin, reported explosions that they blamed on Ukrainian forces.

Here’s the latest on the war and its ripple effects across the globe.

Key developments

• The pope told Zelensky that he was in “constant prayer” for peace, according to a Vatican news release. “The Pope stressed in particular the urgent need for ‘gestures of humanity’ in favor of the most fragile people, innocent victims of the conflict,” the news release said in Italian. The pope has frequently called for an end to the war and has cast himself in the role of peacemaker, though some analysts question whether there is a viable mediator role for the Vatican in a part of the world dominated by the Russian Orthodox Church.
• The Ukrainian president thanked Francis for his support and requested more. “I’m grateful for his personal attention to the tragedy of millions of Ukrainians,” Zelensky said in a statement published after their meeting. “In addition, I asked to condemn crimes in Ukraine. Because there can be no equality between the victim and the aggressor.”
• Zelensky described his trip as “an important visit for approaching victory of Ukraine.” He is rallying his European allies for a planned counteroffensive on the battlefield and is looking for sustained military support from Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. In their “fruitful” meeting, Zelensky said, the leaders discussed Ukraine’s bids to join NATO and the European Union, punitive sanctions against Russia, potential peace plans and postwar reconstruction.
• Italy’s President Sergio Mattarella stressed to Zelensky that peace in Ukraine “must be a true peace and not a surrender,” according to an account of the meeting provided by a source in the presidential office, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly. Mattarella also confirmed Italy’s readiness to provide “military, financial, humanitarian and reconstruction aid” to Kyiv in the long and short term, the source added.
• At least four people were injured after Russian strikes in Ukraine early Saturday, according to Ukrainian officials. Injuries were reported in Nikopol and Mykolaiv in the south, while in the western city of Khmelnytskyi multiple people were injured, its mayor said, adding that educational, medical and residential buildings, along with industrial facilities, were damaged. One person was also killed by Russian shelling in the village of Cherneshchyna in central Ukraine, the regional governor said.

Battleground updates

• The Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant faces “a very difficult staffing situation,” said Rafael Mariano Grossi, the International Atomic Energy Agency’s director general. Europe’s largest nuclear power plant has seen considerable reduction in staffing numbers since the conflict began, and “in the medium and longer term, this is increasing the risk of a nuclear accident,” he said. The plant in southern Ukraine is controlled by Russian authorities, who are planning to evacuate 3,100 staffers, Ukrainian officials say.
• Six children and a senior Russian lawmaker were injured due to the blasts in Russian-occupied Luhansk, local pro-Kremlin officials said. Russian state media said another strike took place Saturday morning and claimed that both days’ attacks involved long-range Storm Shadow missiles provided by the United Kingdom. A U.K. official, speaking on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly, said of the missiles: “We’ve provided them [Ukraine] a capability. We’d expect them to deploy it, in line with the objective of repelling Russia’s illegal invasion of sovereign Ukrainian territory.”
• A Russian Defense Ministry spokesman appeared to tacitly acknowledge that Russian forces had retreated from positions at a reservoir three miles northwest of Bakhmut. Troops have “taken advantageous decisions” in the area to “enhance defense lines,” spokesman Igor Konashenkov said during a news briefing Friday. Several Russian military bloggers have reported Ukrainian advances and suggested that Ukraine’s counteroffensive has begun. Ukrainian officials have said their offensive has not started.
• Ukraine regained at least one kilometer (0.6 miles) of territory around Bakhmut this week, the British Defense Ministry said Saturday. According to the ministry’s daily update, “elements” of a Russian rifle brigade “likely withdrew in bad order” from the southern flank of Russian and pro-Russian forces in the city — showing “Russia’s severe shortage of credible combat units.” On Friday, the head of Russia’s mercenary Wagner Group, Yevgeniy Prigozhin, said Ukrainian forces had conducted “a number of successful counterattacks” on Russian forces, while Kyiv’s Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar said Ukrainian troops advanced two kilometers over the past week.

Global impact

• Germany was also slated to host Zelensky in the coming days — but uncertainty surrounds that visit after details of his itinerary leaked to the press. Kyiv was “furious” after arrival details and the name of hotel where the Ukrainian president was planning to stay were published by a Berlin newspaper this month, according to a Ukrainian official, who said the trip was almost called off as a result. German government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit said he could not confirm that the visit would go ahead.
• Germany is sending a further $3 billion in military aid to Ukraine, news agencies reported Saturday. Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said the new package would show “that Germany is serious in its support” for Kyiv, according to the Associated Press. Zelensky’s chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, said on Telegram that the latest package would include 30 Leopard tanks, air defense systems, reconnaissance drones and armored vehicles.
• Poland’s Defense Ministry said Saturday that an unidentified object, probably an observation balloon, flew into its airspace from the direction of Belarus. The ministry tweeted that radar contact with the object was lost near Rypin, in central Poland, and that its forces were conducting a search for the object.
• The U.S. ambassador to South Africa met with his host country’s foreign minister, after causing controversy by publicly accusing his host country of supplying weapons to Russia. U.S. envoy Reuben Brigety tweeted late Friday that he was “grateful” to be able to “correct any misimpressions left by my public remarks,” after his comments caused anger in Pretoria, which is investigating the allegations. In a statement, the South African government said it found the ambassador’s behavior “puzzling and at odds with the mutually beneficial and cordial relationship” between the two countries.

From our correspondents

Inside a Ukrainian military hospital, gruesome wounds and resilience: DNIPRO, Ukraine — The doctor pushed open the hospital room’s door, revealing four beds inside. In each one lay a Ukrainian soldier recently wounded on the front line of the nearly 15-month war with Russia.

Mykhailo, 34, lay on the first bed to the right. It was time to change his bandages. He turned to two visiting journalists, joking through the pain. “I put on nice underpants for you!” he said. Then he winced and grabbed the bar hanging above his head to steady himself.

“Shrapnel injuries of the lower limbs,” explained Vadym, the traumatologist treating Mykhailo’s many injuries. The Washington Post visited the hospital and interviewed patients and staff this month on the condition that they would not be identified with full names to maintain security and privacy.

Mykhailo had arrived at this hospital in central Ukraine three days earlier, after an attack on his front-line trench in the east. The quick work of military medics saved him from severe blood loss or amputation.

Ukraine does not publish casualty counts. But conditions in hospitals near the front line can often signal how severe the situation is on the battlefield, Kamila Hrabchuk and Alice Martins report.

Jeong reported from Seoul, Bisset from London, and Parker and Parker from Washington. Loveday Morris in Berlin and Adam Taylor in Kyiv contributed to this report.