Pope Francis' remarks on the murder of Darya Dugina spark controversy in Ukraine

At his last General Audience, Pope Francis condemned the car bomb murder of Darya Dugina. She was the daughter of Alexander Dugin, a Russian philosopher and Putin collaborator with a strong nationalist stance and connections to extremist movements in Europe.

POPE FRANCIS
I think of all the cruelty—of so many innocents who are paying the price for this madness. The madness is from all sides because war is madness and no one who is in a war can say, "No, I am not mad." War is mad. I think of a poor girl who was blown up by a bomb under her car seat in Moscow. The innocent pay for war. The innocent.

Some of the first to protest were Dmytro Kuleba, Ukrainian foreign minister and Andrii Yurash, Ukrainian ambassador to the Holy See.

In a tweet, the ambassador said that the Pope's speech was "disappointing" and that one cannot put "the aggressor and the victim" in the same category.

Additionally, Yurash argues that Darya Dugina was not so innocent and calls her an advocate of Russian imperialism. He denies Ukraine's involvement in her murder and accuses Russia of killing her in order to create a martyr and blame Ukrainians.

On the other hand, President Vladimir Putin blames Ukrainian spies for the attack. Currently, no one has claimed responsibility for the assassination, which makes peace between the two countries even more difficult.

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TR: AT