Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, the Holy See's special envoy for Ukraine, has returned to the country for the second time since the beginning of the Russian invasion, following his 2023 mission. A four-day visit from Monday to Thursday included a stop in Kyiv, but the first stop was not in the capital: in the pouring rain, the president of the Italian Bishops' Conference (CEI) passed through the three armored gates of the "Zakhid-1" camp, a former Soviet prison in the Lviv region and one of five centers across Ukraine housing prisoners of war who fought in the Russian army. The exact number of inmates is unknown for security reasons, but news sources believe that there are several hundred. Zuppi, accompanied by Apostolic Nuncio Visvaldas Kulbokas and Ukrainian Ambassador to the Holy See Andrii Yurash, visited the entire facility for nearly three hours, including the rooms, showers, common room, canteen, internal chapel, and small infirmary where shrapnel wounds and diseases contracted in the trenches are treated. The cardinal presented three gifts to the inmates, who weren't all Russian and included a North Korean, a Colombian, and a Belarusian with an amputated leg. The gifts included a keychain as a symbol of hope ("I hope you'll soon put the house key on it"), a holy card from the Salus Populi Romani, and an image of Leo XIV, with the message that the Pope prays for them and that the war ends as soon as possible. The visit is part of the Vatican's humanitarian diplomacy, which has established a pipeline between Kyiv and Moscow over the last three years, passing thousands of prisoner names, facilitating prisoner exchanges and the repatriation of Ukrainian children transferred to Russia. "They are not just lists", Zuppi said. "Behind every name there is a person, with a family and a life". The visit concluded with the recitation of the Lord's Prayer together with the prisoners, followed by the Cardinal's final appeal: "The war must end".