Zuppi told the state news agency TASS that meetings with representatives of the Russian authorities are scheduled for Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.
He said his mandate is to support the sides' efforts to address the situation of children taken from combat zones, prisoner exchanges and civilian problems created by the conflict. The mission was begun by Pope Francis and later confirmed by Pope Leo XIV, Zuppi said.
Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov has said he plans to meet Zuppi. The cardinal told a TASS correspondent that the Vatican considers humanitarian appeals from both the Ukrainian and the Russian side. According to him, cooperation matters even if it helps just one person.
Zuppi was appointed special envoy for finding paths to peace in Ukraine in May 2023 by Pope Francis. He has visited Moscow twice, in June 2023 and October 2024. In August, the head of Vatican diplomacy, Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, made a four-day visit to Moscow, the first since the war began. He met Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Metropolitan Anthony of Volokolamsk, chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate's Department for External Church Relations. Lavrov said at the time that much had changed in the world since their previous meeting in 2021, but that Moscow had managed to maintain a trusting dialogue with the Vatican.
Leo XIV has repeatedly called for peace in Ukraine. Last December, after a meeting at the Vatican with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, he stressed the need to continue dialogue and expressed a wish for current diplomatic initiatives to lead to a just and lasting peace, the Holy See's press service reported. It was the pontiff's third meeting with Zelensky. In August, the pope spoke of the need to stop the spiral of violence and make room for diplomacy and dialogue.