At least 117 children have been killed so far in Russia’s war on Ukraine, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has told Italian lawmakers. “But 117 will not be the final number,” he warned in a video link to both chambers of parliament in Rome. “They keep killing,” he said according to the Italian translation. According to the office for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, at least 925 civilians have been confirmed killed in Ukraine, including 75 children. It has warned this is likely an underestimate. Zelensky called on Italy to freeze Russian assets and confiscate luxury goods such as yachts, arguing that this was necessary to stop Russian President Vladimir Putin. “You only need to stop one person so that millions can survive.” Following Zelensky’s video address, Prime Minister Mario Draghi told lawmakers Italy wants “to draw a path to bring Ukraine closer to Europe”. Italy has so far frozen assets worth about US$880 million belonging to Russian oligarchs, Draghi added. Zelensky also said he had spoken by phone with Pope Francis, who had encouraged him in the army’s fight for Ukraine’s freedom. “I answered him: our people became an army when they saw how much suffering the enemy brings, how much destruction it leaves behind, how much bloodshed it demands.” Zelensky called on the Pope to mediate in the conflict with Russia to help alleviate human suffering, nearly one month into Moscow’s invasion. Zelensky wrote on Twitter that a mediating role by the Vatican in ending suffering “would be appreciated”. The Ukrainian ambassador to the Holy See renewed an invitation to Francis to visit the war zone. Pope Francis has called for an end to the conflict on more than one occasion and although he has condemned the “massacre” in Ukraine, he has avoided mentioning Russia by name. Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill and Francis earlier this month held talks on Ukraine and urged negotiations to continue to reach a “just peace”. Humanitarian conditions have continued to deteriorate in the mostly Russian-speaking south and east of Ukraine, where Putin’s forces have been pressing their advance, as well as in the north around Kyiv. Aid agencies are struggling to reach people trapped in besieged cities. Around 10 million Ukrainians have fled their homes, with roughly a third of them going abroad, the UN refugee agency said. War repercussions are spreading beyond the region, with famine feared in parts of the world because Russia and Ukraine are both major agricultural exporters. Sudan is seen as especially vulnerable. Additional reporting by AFP