Pope Francis revealed that he had requested a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow in an attempt to stop the war in Ukraine, but had not received a response.

“I am afraid that Putin will not be able or willing to hold this meeting at the present time,” the pope added. “But how can one not stop all this brutality?”

In response to a question about visiting the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, the Pope confirmed that he would not go at the present time.

The governor of the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine indicated that a convoy of buses left Mariupol today in a new effort by Ukraine, the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross to evacuate civilians from the city in southern Ukraine, which is under constant and indiscriminate bombardment by Russian forces.