VATICAN CITY, May 27. /TASS/. Any Ukraine peace deal will require complete buy-in from both sides, with no half measures, Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin said in an interview published on the Vatican News portal.

The cardinal said that the venue for peace negotiations doesn’t matter, only that they begin and lead to the end of the conflict.

"First and foremost, a truce is needed to end the devastation, the destroyed cities, the civilians losing their lives. Then it is urgent to reach a stable, just, and lasting peace, one accepted and agreed upon by both sides," he said.

Earlier, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, commenting on the Vatican's initiative to serve as a venue for the next round of talks between Moscow and Kiev, suggested "not wasting mental resources on working out options that are not very realistic," pointing out that holding a meeting between the two Orthodox countries on Catholic soil would be "a little inelegant."

The Holy See has repeatedly expressed its readiness to contribute to the Ukrainian settlement under the previous Pope Francis, and the current Leo XIV has reiterated this readiness. The Vatican encourages cooperation on humanitarian issues like prisoner exchanges and the return of Ukrainian children taken from war zones.

On May 16, the first round of negotiations between Russia and Ukraine took place in Istanbul. Moscow and Kiev agreed to exchange prisoners under a "1,000 for 1,000" formula, to outline in detail their vision of a possible future ceasefire and to continue the negotiations.