Pope Leo XIV on Sunday prayed for peace in Ukraine during his Sunday Angelus message.

The pontiff was marking the country’s independence day, and noted that on Aug. 22 he called for a day of prayers and fasting to end wars around the world, including Ukraine.

“Today we join our Ukrainian brothers and sisters who, with the spiritual initiative ‘World Prayer for Ukraine’, ask the Lord to give peace to their martyred country,” Leo said while speaking to St. Peter’s Square in the Vatican.

Russia illegally annexed Crimea in 2014 and launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Russia has been making slow advances in Ukraine, but is suffering huge casualties, as are the Ukrainians.

On Sunday, Russia accused Ukraine of launching drone attacks that sparked a fire at a nuclear power plant in its western Kursk region overnight, as Ukraine celebrated 34 years since its independence from the Soviet Union.

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Russian officials said several power and energy facilities were targeted in the overnight strikes. The fire at the nuclear facility was quickly extinguished with no injuries reported, according to the plant’s press service on Telegram. While the attack damaged a transformer, radiation levels remained within normal ranges.

The United Nations’ nuclear watchdog said it was aware of media reports that a transformer at the plants had caught fire “due to military activity,” but hadn’t received independent confirmation. It said its director-general, Rafael Mariano Grossi, said that “every nuclear facility must be protected at all times.”

Ukraine did not immediately comment on the alleged attack.

However, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on X placed a copy of a message sent to him from Pope Leo marking the country’s Independence Day.

“With a heart wounded by the violence that ravages your land, I address you on this day of your national feast,” the pontiff writes.

“I wish to assure of my prayer for the people of Ukraine who suffer from war – especially for all those wounded in body, for those bereaved by the death of a loved one, and for those deprived of their homes,” he continues.

“May God Himself console them; may He strengthen the injured and grant eternal rest to the departed. I implore the Lord to move the hearts of people of good will, that the clamour of arms may fall silent and give way to dialogue, opening the path to peace for the good of all,” Leo continues.

In July, Zelenskyy visited the pope in Castel Gandolfo and told reporters he was “relying heavily on the Vatican” in peace efforts with Russia.

Zelenskyy also delivered remarks marking their national day in a video address from Kyiv’s Independence Square, emphasizing the nation’s resolve.

“We are building a Ukraine that will have enough strength and power to live in security and peace,” Zelenskyy said, calling for a “just peace.”

“What our future will be is up to us alone,” he said, in a nod to the U.S.–Russia summit in Alaska earlier in August, which many feared would leave Ukrainian and European interests sidelined.

“And the world knows this. And the world respects this. It respects Ukraine. It perceives Ukraine as an equal,” he said.

U.S. special envoy Keith Kellogg was in attendance at independence day celebrations in Kyiv, during which Zelenskyy awarded him the Ukrainian Order of Merit, of the 1st degree.

This article includes passages from Associated Press.