Pope Francis pleads with Putin to end 'spiral of violence and death' in Ukraine

Pope Francis of the Roman Catholic Church has for the first time directly called on Russian President Vladimir Putin to stop the "spiral of violence and death" in Ukraine, Al-Jazeera reported.

In a speech dedicated to Ukraine on Sunday in St. Peter's Square, the head of the Catholic Church said he was haunted by "rivers of blood and tears".

“My appeal is addressed above all to the President of the Russian Federation, begging him to stop this spiral of violence and death, even out of love for his own people,” he said.

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Similarly, Pope Francis called on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to be open to serious peace proposals to end the ongoing war.

He also deplored the annexation of four Ukrainian regions by Russian troops, saying it risked nuclear escalation, thus urging Putin to think of his own people.

Recall that Putin proclaimed the annexation of four partially occupied Ukrainian regions, calling the inhabitants of the occupied Ukrainian regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhia "our citizens forever".

Ukraine and its Western allies have condemned the annexation as illegal, and Kyiv has said it will continue to fight to retake all occupied Ukrainian territory.