Papal envoy Cardinal Zuppi visits Ukrainian prisoners of war in Russia

What happened

Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, the Pope’s special envoy for humanitarian affairs and president of the Italian Bishops’ Conference, visited Ukrainian prisoners of war during a visit to Moscow, the Vatican said, as reported by Ukrinform.

The cardinal’s third mission to Moscow ended on September 30, following previous visits in June 2023 and October 2024. On Wednesday, Zuppi visited a camp holding Ukrainian POWs, spoke with them, conveyed Pope Leo XIV’s closeness and solidarity, and expressed hope that they would soon be able to return home.

According to the Italian news agency ANSA, the cardinal said he hoped the visit would help encourage further prisoner exchanges.

Who the cardinal met

Throughout the three-day visit, Zuppi was accompanied by the Apostolic Nuncio to Moscow, Archbishop Giovanni d’Aniello.

The cardinal met Yuri Ushakov, an aide to Russia’s president. According to Vatican News, their talks focused on military and civilian prisoners, the search for missing persons, family reunification and the repatriation of children. Zuppi also met Russia’s human rights commissioner Yana Lantratova and children’s rights commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova.

In March 2023 the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Lvova-Belova. ICC judges found reasonable grounds to believe she is responsible for the war crime of unlawfully deporting and transferring Ukrainian children from occupied territories to Russia.

“We need to strengthen and speed up the checks needed to ensure that families can be reunited,” Cardinal Zuppi said, as quoted by Vatican News.

Visits to both sides

As Vatican News recalls, in July Zuppi visited Ukraine, where he also toured camps holding Russian prisoners of war in the Lviv region. In August, as Ukrinform reported, Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, the Holy See’s Secretary for Relations with States and International Organizations, called for an end to the war in Ukraine during his own visit to Moscow.

Why it matters

The Vatican has consistently sought a mediating role on humanitarian issues — prisoners, missing persons and children separated from their families. For Ukrainian families waiting for relatives to return from captivity, every such channel of communication is a chance to speed up exchanges and obtain information about their loved ones.