Pope Francis suggests Putin was ‘in some way provoked’ into invading Ukraine

Francis criticises ‘cruelty of Russian troops’ but also hits out at the west, saying he refuses to characterise conflict as between ‘good and bad’

Pope Francis has suggested Russia’s invasion of Ukraine may have been “in some way provoked” in his latest comments that fall far short of condemning Vladimir Putin as an aggressor towards his European neighbour.

The pontiff insisted he is not in favour of the Russian president’s actions or generally “pro-Putin”, but said he refused to characterise the Russia-Ukraine war as a distinction between “good and bad”.

The Pope made the comments last month while speaking with the editors of 10 European Jesuit cultural magazines of the Society of Jesus, and a transcript of the conversation was published on Tuesday by the Jesuit journal Civilta Cattolica and Italian media.