Pope Francis mentioned the death of Russian journalist Darya Dugina, the daughter of political philosopher Alexander Dugin, as an example of "the madness of war" and of the "innocents" who pay its price.

To the weekly general audience in the Vatican on Wednesday, the Pope said "I think of the violence, of so many innocents who pay the price of this madness: the madness of all sides, because war is madness," adding that his thoughts were with prisoners of war, refugees, injured people, and orphaned children both from Ukraine and Russia.

"I think of the poor girl who was blown up by a bomb under her car seat in Moscow. Innocent people pay for war. And those who make profit from war and arms trade are criminals," Pope Francis concluded. 

Darya Dugina was murdered on the evening of August 20 in a car explosion in the outskirts of Moscow. She and her father were leaving an event, where Dugin was a speaker, in separate vehicles. The Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) said on Monday that the Ukrainian intelligence services were behind the murder of Dugina and named the perpetrator as Ukrainian citizen Natalya Vovk.

"The crime was prepared and committed by the Ukrainian special services. The performer is a citizen of Ukraine Vovk Natalya ... born in 1979, who arrived in Russia on July 23, 2022, together with her daughter ... In order to organize the murder of D. Dugina and obtain information about her lifestyle, they rented an apartment in Moscow in the house where the deceased lived," the FSB said.  

The UN has already called for an "investigation to establish the facts” behind the assassination of the Russian journalist, according to Stephane Dujarric, the spokesman for Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday. The Ukrainian Presidential Advisor, Mykhailo Podolyak, claims that Ukraine has nothing to do with the attack.