The New York Times article does not claim that Ukraine opposes peace and negotiations. On the contrary, it emphasizes that the main topic of the meeting between President Zelenskyi and the Pope was precisely the Peace Formula – the Ukrainian scenario for the end of the war. At the same time, Zelenskyi really considers the negotiations with Putin meaningless.
Kremlin news sources write that during a meeting with the Pope the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi allegedly convinced him that peace and negotiations are unnecessary now. According to the propagandist version, the American media source The New York Times allegedly wrote about this based on the results of Zelenskyi’s visit to Italy.
Moreover, propagandist Volodymyr Kornilov wrote in his column for RIA Novosti that Zelensky even scolded the Pope during the meeting in response to his calls for a truce and negotiations.
Propagandists once again manipulated the content of an article in a foreign media to support their disinformation narratives. Propaganda purposefully spreads such narratives to present Ukraine as a country that does not seek peace and instead benefits from war. This time, they referred to an article Zelensky Meets Pope and Meloni in Italy to Bolster Ukraine’s Support.
The article states that the meeting of the Ukrainian President with the Pope took place in lue of the Vatican’s plans to prepare a peace plan to end the war.
‘I asked to condemn Russian crimes in Ukraine,’ Mr. Zelensky said in a statement after the meeting with Francis, who gave him a bronze olive branch. ‘Because there can be no equality between the victim and the aggressor. I also talked about our Peace Formula as the only effective algorithm for achieving a just peace. I proposed joining its implementation’, the NYT cites the Ukrainian President.
The manipulation of Zelensky’s alleged statement that peace and negotiations are unnecessary was based on this paragraph of the article:
Asked afterwards on Italian television whether Francis, who had sought to stake out an equidistant position between Ukraine and Russia, could be a peacemaker between him and Mr. Putin, Mr. Zelensky said, ‘with all respect for His Holiness,’ Ukraine did not need mediators because “you can’t do mediation with Putin.’ He said victory on the battlefield was essential, and coming, and saw no point in speaking with Mr. Putin, who was clearly acting in bad faith. ‘What are we going to talk about?’
In turn, the Vatican only reported that war was discussed in the meeting, and Pope Francis assured Zelensky of his ‘constant prayer’ for Ukraine, and that both agreed on the need to continue humanitarian aid.
The New York Times article does not claim that Ukraine opposes peace and negotiations. On the contrary, it emphasizes that the main topic of the meeting between President Zelenskyi and the Pope was precisely the Peace Formula – the Ukrainian scenario for the end of the war. At the same time, Zelenskyi really considers the negotiations with Putin meaningless.
Besides, NYT mentioned in the article that the Pope ‘has made often confusing and contradictory remarks about whether he blames President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia for the invasion of Ukraine’. Earlier, he would even refuse to meet Zelensky, because Putin opposed it.
Previously, StopFake refuted the manipulation that Pope Francis allegedly supported Russia’s position on Ukraine.
