President of Ukraine Vladimir Zelenskyarrived in the Vatican this Saturday to meet with Pope Francis and the city of Rome was surrounded by over 1000 policemen.

The long-awaited meeting comes after the pontiff reported that it was in full swing. mission to end the war in Ukrainethe details of which are not yet known.

Zelensky arrived at the Vatican at 4:10 pm local time from the Chigi Palace, the seat of the Italian government, where met with Prime Minister Georgia Meloni, after being previously also received by the head of state, Sergio Mattarella.

This is the first meeting of the Pope with the Ukrainian president since the beginning of the war, although both know each other, because Francis received Zelensky at an audience February 8, 2020when it was said about humanitarian situation and the search for peace” in the context of “the conflict that has haunted Ukraine since 2014”.

This new meeting comes in the midst of a Vatican peacekeeping mission announced by the pontiff on a return flight from his recent trip to Hungary, the details of which are not yet known, although a source in the Vatican told Russian media that the meeting was “not directly related” and that Zelenskiy requested a meeting with Francis ‘just a few days ago’.

Also, this happens when imminent Ukrainian counteroffensive with which Kyiv wants to win back a good part of the territory occupied by Moscow.

The meeting raised high expectations as many expect it to be starting point for complex negotiationsstarting with the humanitarian issue, but which can also go as far as the cessation of hostilities, given the equidistant position that Francis always tried to maintain, although such a position sometimes annoyed the Ukrainians.