The wives of two Ukrainian soldiers trapped inside Mariupol’s besieged Azovstal steel met Pope Francis on Wednesday.

Yulia Fedosiuk and Kateryna Prokopenko, both met with Pope Francis in the Vatican.

The two women said their husbands are Azov regiment soldiers who are currently defending the steel factory against Russian attacks.

They claimed they had written to the Pope via the Ukrainian ambassador in Rome in recent days.

And were startled to receive an invitation to the Pope’s weekly public audience.

Fedosiuk said, “We told the Pope about our husbands, about the injured soldiers, the dead that cannot be buried. We asked him for help, to be a third party in this war, and help us to guarantee a humanitarian corridor.”

They also informed the Pope about the dire and unsafe conditions within the plant.

She went on to say that the Pope appeared to be highly knowledgeable about the situation in Ukraine, and that he promised to pray for them.