BRUSSELS, March 11. /TASS/. Ukraine needs weapons, not white flags, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said, disagreeing with Pope Francis’ recent remark, in an interview for Reuters.
"If we want a negotiated, peaceful, lasting solution, the way to get there is to provide military support to Ukraine," Stoltenberg said, adding that the development at a negotiation table is inseparably connected to the sustainability on the battlefield.
When asked if his reaction means that talking about a white flag would be inappropriate at this moment, Stoltenberg said "it’s not the time to talk about surrender by the Ukrainians," adding that such situation would become a "tragedy for the Ukrainians" and will be "dangerous for all of us."
On March 9, Pope Francis called in an interview for Switzerland’s RSI to begin a negotiations process on Ukraine with involvement of international mediators. According to the Pope, when someone sees that "they are defeated, that something goes wrong, one must show courage and begin negotiations" in order to avoid the worst and avoid new deaths. He used the term "white flag" in his speech, which many interpreted as a call for Kiev’s capitulation. Meanwhile, Vatican pointed out that the Pope said that negotiations "never mean capitulation, but courage.".