Pope Leo XIV has insisted Europe must have a role in any Ukraine peace deal and criticised what he said was the Trump administration\u2019s effort to \u201cbreak apart\u201d the US-European alliance. Leo spoke after meeting with Ukraine\u2019s visiting president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy. \u201cSeeking a peace agreement without including Europe in the talks is unrealistic, given the war is in Europe,\u201d said the pope. \u201cGuarantees are also being sought for security today and in the future. Europe must be part of this, and unfortunately not everyone understands this, but I think there is a great opportunity for European leaders to unite and seek a solution together.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Trump administration has released a US national security strategy that aggressively deprecates the US-European alliance. Leo said what he had read would \u201cmake a huge change in what was for many, many years a true alliance between Europe and the United States.\u201d Additionally, some comments by Donald Trump suggest an effort \u201ctrying to break apart what I think needs to be an alliance today and in the future\u201d. While some people in the US may agree with that effort, \u201cI think many others would see things in a different way\u201d, he said.<\/p>\n
Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said he is ready to hold a wartime election within the next three months if Ukraine\u2019s parliament will allow it and foreign allies help, Shaun Walker writes from Kyiv<\/a>. It comes after Donald Trump accused him of clinging on to power<\/a> and flouting democracy. Ukraine\u2019s constitution forbids elections during wartime, when martial law is necessarily in effect. Zelenskyy, clearly irritated by Trump\u2019s intervention, said that \u201cthis is a question for the people of Ukraine, not people from other states, with all due respect to our partners\u201d.<\/p>\n Ukraine\u2019s president continued, however, that \u201csince this question is raised today by the president of the United States of America, our partners, I will answer very briefly: look, I am ready for elections. Moreover, I am asking \u2026 the United States to help me, possibly together with European colleagues, to ensure security for the elections, and then in the next 60 to 90 days Ukraine will be ready to hold the elections. I personally have the will and readiness for this.\u201d<\/p>\n Zelenskyy\u2019s political opponents have shied away from the idea of holding elections in wartime. \u201cIt would only cause harm,\u201d said Serhiy Rakhmanin, an MP from the opposition Holos party. \u201cHe\u2019s the commander-in-chief, and the country is in a position where we don\u2019t have that luxury, whatever issues we might have with him. It would only help the enemy.\u201d<\/p>\n Zelenskyy hoped to send an updated plan to end the war with Russia to Washington on Wednesday, after it was amended following talks with European allies. \u201cWe are working today [Tuesday] and will continue tomorrow [Wednesday]. I think we will hand it over tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n