Vatican envoy visited Ukrainian prisoners in Russia, Moscow says

Russia’s Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday that Cardinal Matteo Zuppi visited Ukrainian prisoners of war during a three-day humanitarian mission to Moscow. It said the Vatican had requested the visit to an unnamed detention site and that Zuppi spoke with prisoners. The ministry did not say how many he met or on which day the visit took place. [2] [7]

Vatican News said Zuppi’s mission, scheduled for 28–30 September, focused on prisoners of war held by both sides and children separated from their families. During a visit to Ukraine in July, he visited facilities holding Russian prisoners of war. Moscow said his latest talks with Russian officials covered missing people, possible exchanges of prisoners and civilians, family reunification and children’s cases. [3] [4] [2]

The Russian ministry also attributed to Zuppi the view that Russia was observing humanitarian standards at the detention site. In a June report, the UN human rights office said 124 of 129 repatriated Ukrainian prisoners it interviewed described torture or other ill-treatment during captivity. More than half reported slightly improved conditions in some facilities from late 2024, but accounts of punitive violence continued. [2] [6]