The wives of two Ukrainian soldiers defending the Mariupol steel mill met with Pope Francis on Wednesday and begged him to intervene to arrange for a third-party evacuation of the troops before Russian soldiers capture or kill them.
“You are our last hope. We hope you can save their lives. Please don’t let them die,” said a weeping Kateryna Prokopenko as she greeted Francis at the end of his weekly general audience in St. Peter’s Square.
