DLNews Stuff:

Russia's beastly attack on Ukraine - now Pope Francis is losing patience with the warmongers in Moscow.

Proximity on the shelf - also in reality? In Russian souvenir shops – like here in St. Petersburg – statues of Putin and Stalin are offered side by side.

In his weekly general audience, the Pope compared the crimes of Kremlin despot Putin (70) with the mass murderer Stalin (1878-1953).

We remember the martyrs in Ukraine,” said the Church leader, recalling the “man-made” famine in Ukraine in the 1930s that killed at least three million people.

Francis literally: "This Saturday marks the anniversary of the terrible genocide of the Holodomor, the extermination artificially induced by Stalin in 1932-1933. Let us pray for the victims of this genocide, and let us pray for the many Ukrainians, children, women, and old people who today suffer the martyrdom of aggression."

Putin's rockets followed the gloomy words of the Pope

Spooky: Just hours after the Pope's somber words had faded, Ukraine experienced its most brutal night of war, with nationwide power cuts and the collapse of the water and heat supply in the capital Kyiv, after rocket hits hit critical infrastructure.

Overnight temperatures were below-freezing in much of the country.

A glimmer of hope: The repair work is in full swing. Three nuclear power plants that have been shut down are scheduled to restart on Thursday, Ukrainian Energy Minister German Galushchenko said.

The Pope had repeatedly served as a mediator in the Ukraine war. Still, he had also come under criticism with controversial theses (he spoke, among other things, of "NATO barking at the gates of Russia"). A trip to Kyiv was also repeatedly discussed, but this plan has failed - among other things, due to resistance from high-ranking Vatican diplomats.

In an interview last week, Francis confirmed that he still has hope for a peaceful solution. "Let's not give up," he told the newspaper "La Stampa."