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Ukraine’s Zelenskyy meets Pope Francis as he continues European tour to push ‘victory plan’

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Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelenskyy met with Pope Francis at the Vatican on Friday as he continues his tour of Europe to bolster support for a “victory plan”.

During his conversation with the head of the Catholic Church, Zelenskyy and Francis reportedly discussed the state of the war, the humanitarian situation in Ukraine and well as how it could be brought to an end.

Zelenskyy has been city-hopping across the continent to promote a proposal which he says “aims to create the right conditions for a just end to the war” against Russia.

Since the first Russian attack on Kyiv, Francis and Zelenskyy have made multiple visits, letters and phone calls to each other.

Francis has repeatedly and strongly called for an end to the war in Ukraine, focusing on prisoner exchanges and on reaching a diplomatic solution to the conflict.

The Pope drew some criticism from Ukrainian leaders in March when he suggested they should have the “courage of the white flag” and consider a negotiated end to the war with Russia, an notion interpreted by many as a call to surrender.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy arrives in the St. Damasus courtyard at the Vatican on his way to a private meeting with Pope Francis, Friday, Oct. 11 2024

Rounding up support

A day before meeting the Pope, he had detailed the plan’s proposals to European allies after a planned summit including US President Joe Biden was derailed by Hurricane Milton.

He met with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte in London on Thursday before heading to France for a meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron, who signalled his support by visiting Ukrainian troops being trained in France.

Zelenskyy also met with Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni, who ensured Italy’s full and continued support to put Ukraine in a position to build lasting peace.

The Ukrainian leader has yet to publicly present his proposals for victory, but the timing of his efforts to lock in European support appeared to have November’s US presidential election in mind.

Former President Donald Trump, who could return to the White House next year, has long been critical of US aid to Ukraine.

Zelenskyy had planned to present his blueprint at a weekend meeting of Western leaders in Germany, but it was postponed after sitting President Joe Biden stayed in the US to respond to Hurricane Milton, which has wreaked havoc in Florida.

Crypto Exec Pushing for Industry Support of Kamala Harris for President

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The former CEO of crypto platform Uphold, J.P. Thieriot, is trying to drum up crypto support for Vice President Kamala Harris as she pursues the Democratic nomination in the presidential election, arguing that former President Donald Trump is offering empty promises to the industry and Harris is signaling a new openness.

Trump, the Republican nominee in the 2024 race, has quickly become the crypto favorite, garnering big-money support from industry leaders as he adopts enthusiastic cheering for the digital assets sector (which he’d looked on with open skepticism until recently). But Thieriot said there seems to be “a real opportunity to help shape the Harris campaign’s position on crypto.”

“Of course, she’s going to have to do some stuff to gain trust, but she has signaled she’d like a chance,” said Thieriot, who said he still retains a stake in Uphold and is building a new crypto trading operation, in an interview. “It would be crazy to not engage on that.”

He said he wrote a strategy paper with a wider group, which included crypto lawyers who he declined to name. They shared that document with Harris’ campaign this week and are awaiting a response.

“We would argue that crypto is this electoral cycle’s foremost interstate swing issue,” said the strategy paper, which was reviewed by CoinDesk. “Trump has already moved to try to capture this space, and raised significant capital, essentially offering vague platitudes and no meaningful policy commitments.”

The paper suggested an opening crypto fundraiser in San Francisco and predicted that Harris could garner endorsements from prominents crypto figures and potentially earn tens of millions in campaign donations from the industry. Thieriot said he’s setting up a website, and the effort can be contacted at info@crypto4kamala.co.

Industry support has most loudly gravitated toward Trump, who spoke at the recent Bitcoin 2024 conference in Nashville, Tenn., and who says he’ll put a stop to the government resistance to cryptocurrency typified by the actions of Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Gary Gensler and the opposition of Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.).

Despite President Joe Biden’s appointment of Gensler and ongoing support of his oversight of the cryptocurrency sector, “Kamala has, I think, an opportunity at a clean slate,” Thieriot said. The strategy he and the other supporters have in mind: She makes it clear her administration will work with the industry and support clear rules for it, and she shows openness for a friendlier chief at the SEC.

Thieriot isn’t alone among crypto insiders now favoring Harris. Tonya Evans, a prominent crypto law professor and board member of the Digital Currency Group, argued that Harris offers a chance for a new course that differs from the Gensler/Warren views that have dominated this administration. Evans is involved in a group of decentralized finance leaders favoring the vice president, which has scheduled a Thursday organizational meeting.

Some of the most recent national polling shows Harris with a slight lead over Trump, though the candidates remain nearly even.