Oleshky

And President Zelensky warned that military communications via the Starlink network from Elon Musk's SpaceX have not been fully restored.

The Vatican says that Pope Leo spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin today and expressed deep concern for the humanitarian situation in the Russian-occupied town of Oleshki near the front lines.

The Kremlin says that Putin supports Leo's call to allow aid to reach the residents there.

It comes as the Vatican released the first images of the Pope since his lung cancer surgery earlier this week.

Now, Russia's President Vladimir Putin has agreed to cooperate after a phone call with Pope Leo asking for aid to flow to a Russian-controlled town in Ukraine.

According to the Vatican, the pontiff asked the Kremlin to arrange a ceasefire to let aid and food into the town of Oleshky.

Residents have reported a deepening food crisis in the region after it was seized by Russian forces in 2022.

The Pope, who's currently recovering from surgery on his lung, reaffirmed the Holy See's commitment towards any initiatives for peace.

Pope Leo had a phone call with the president of Russia, Vladimir Putin, on Friday, and this is the first phone call with a head of state that we know of since he was hospitalized on Tuesday.

During the call, according to a note released from the Vatican, Leo expressed his deep concern for the humanitarian situation in the city of Oleshky in the Kherson region, calling for a ceasefire that would allow the delivery of food and medical assistance and the safe evacuation of civilians.

The 71-year-old pope is staying at the Gemelli Hospital after part of his right lung was removed and a cancer diagnosis was confirmed.

His doctors say that he's showing a continued improvement in his re- recovery, and the Vatican spokesman, Matteo Bruni, confirmed that he will do the traditional noontime Angelus prayer on Sunday.

But we're also learning the Pope had a phone call from the hospital today with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The Vatican says the Pope expressed concern over the grave humanitarian situation in Oleshky, a Russian-occupied city in Ukraine.

The Pope calling for a ceasefire to allow the delivery of aid.

And meanwhile, we're seeing the first pictures of the Pope, here they are, since he had part of his lung removed and was diagnosed with lung cancer.

I wonder what you make of that.

He's calling for specific ceasefire i- in the town of Oleshky, where there are thought to be 2,000 people trapped right now in, in the midst of war.

Yes.

I've been following that, yes.

Mm-hmm

... on the east bank of the Dnipro River called Oleshky.

And most people wouldn't know what that is, but it's a town that's been under Russian occupation since the beginning of-

Oh, yeah

And, you know, where is the outrage in this country? You know, it gets me thinking.

There's a country, there's a city in Ukraine, in southern Ukraine called Oleshky.

And, you know, they went from like 24,000 people to 2,000. right currently the people are currently eating weeds because they're starving to death i mean the ukrainian government's trying to send in drones with food but you know it's not enough there's dead bodies in the streets dogs are eating the corpses um you know there's russian drones flying overhead you know it makes me kind of think of what um trump had envisioned about america when he first when he ran for his first term you know when he described american carnage you know this is where he wants us to head as a country you know it's just This gets me thinking about all this stuff, man.

I don't really have a question.