In a post on Telegram on Monday, the Ukrainian president revealed he had spoken to Leo, the first North American leader of the Roman Catholic church, as the new pontiff was finishing a speech to thousands of journalists in the Vatican.

Zelenskyy said: “I invited His Holiness to make an apostolic visit to Ukraine. Such a visit would bring real hope to all believers, to all our people.” He described the phone call as “very warm and truly substantive”.