In this season of Lent, Pope Francis flayed himself, earning condemnation, with his call for peace negotiations in Ukraine. Not just any peace negotiation, but one that is grossly misaligned with the realities of Ukraine’s conflict with Russia and the madman Vladimir Putin.

While the Pontiff’s intentions are without a doubt noble, his proposal for Ukraine to raise the “white flag” to pave the way for the resumption of peace talks exposed his being unaware of the full extent of Ukrainian suffering and Russia’s unwillingness to negotiate fairly.

Historically symbolizing surrender, the white flag can never be the banner under which Ukraine will negotiate. As pointedly stated by Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, without sounding disrespectful of the Pope, the Ukrainian colors — blue and yellow — are ones of sheer determination, to live or die, or to prevail under its terms.

Ukraine’s struggle is not one of capitulation but of resilience in the face of adversity; it is not about surrendering, but rather about justice and defending its sovereignty against Russian aggression.

The atrocities committed by the Putin regime against its own citizens to systematically silence dissent and its shackling of neighboring countries like Ukraine strike parallel dimensions that should tell the world there’s no negotiating with the Kremlin while it remains under the stranglehold of a psychopath.

A prominent Putin nemesis, Alexei Navalny, died under mysterious circumstances in a Russian prison colony last month, just the latest among countless others whose opposition to Putin had been ruthlessly met with imprisonment, exile, or death.

With its illegal occupation of Ukrainian territory now stalemated, Russia’s military offensive can only result in the deaths of tens of thousands more and untold suffering for the Ukrainian people.

The fact that Ukraine is fighting a just war against an aggressor that has shown no regard for human rights or international law should not have been lost on Pope Francis. Ditto with Putin’s track record of a blatant disregard for peace and diplomacy.

Instead of calling for Ukraine to raise the white flag, the focus should be on holding Russia to account for its actions and supporting Ukraine’s right to defend every inch of its land.

The international community has so far stood in solidarity with Ukraine, providing it with weapons to defend itself, while condemning Russia’s actions, alas, with the latter falling on deaf ears. Some nations supportive of Ukraine are, however, already wavering.

Nonetheless, Pope Francis may have pictured Ukraine as the more sensible between two parties in having the “courage to negotiate” and to do so “before things get worse.” The 87-year-old Pontiff’s plea was carried by a Swiss television.

“I believe that the strongest are those who see the situation, think about the people, and have the courage to raise the white flag and negotiate,” the Pope said in the interview last February but only aired last week.

Still, as pointed out by Kyiv and Germany, the leader of the Catholic Church seemed to have posited that Ukraine has been defeated when he said, “That word negotiate is a brave word. When you see that you are defeated, that things are not working out, to have the courage to negotiate.”

Speaking about wars in general, the Israel-Hamas conflict included, the Pope said, “Negotiations are never a surrender. It is a courage not to carry a country to suicide.”

Indeed, the Russia-Ukraine War cannot go on forever. Negotiations must be pursued, but they should be on even and just terms, and certainly not at the expense of Ukraine’s sovereignty or the justice owed its people.

The onus is on Putin to withdraw his army from Ukraine and respect its sovereignty. It should be Putin who should wave the white flag, if only to prevent more Russians from being sacrificed while fighting an unjust war.

Negotiations cannot happen in a vacuum, much less without the good faith required of the combatants. By placing the burden of ending the war on the victim, the Pontiff unwittingly creates a false equivalence between the aggressor and the defender.

It is not Ukraine’s responsibility to appease a tyrant.