Pope Francis repeated his call for negotiations to end wars in Ukraine and Gaza, after remarks about “raising the white flag” sparked outrage in Kyiv, AFP reports.

At his weekly audience at the Vatican, the 87-year-old turned his thoughts to the populations of “the martyred Ukraine and of the Holy Land, Palestine, Israel, who suffer so much from the horror of war”.

“Let us never forget, war is always a defeat. We cannot go forward during a war. We must make every effort to talk, to negotiate.” Francis sparked outrage with an interview broadcast earlier this month.