Wives of Mariupol soldiers tell pope: ‘You are our last hope’

Kateryna Prokopenko, right, wife of Azov Regiment Commander Denys Prokopenko, and Yuliia Fedosiuk, both from Ukraine, talk to the Associated Press at the end of the weekly general audience where they met Pope Francis in St Peter’s Square at the Vatican (Nicole Winfield/AP)

The wives of two Ukrainian soldiers defending the Mariupol steel mill have met Pope Francis 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.