Photo: Military Department of the Moscow Patriarchate / Telegram

A fresco in which a Russian serviceman is seen bandaging a wounded Ukrainian soldier has featured in a news report on Russian state TV about a visit to a monastery by Vladimir Putin and Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko, independent media outlet Agentstvo reported on Sunday.

The fresco, which adorns the Smolensk Skete in the historic Valaam monastery in Karelia, northwestern Russia, shows a young Russian soldier with the letter Z and the colours of the St. George ribbon — both pro-war symbols extensively used in Russian military propaganda — on his arm and a soldier with the Ukrainian flag on the arm of his uniform.

The report by propaganda channel Russia-1 also showed a priest urging Putin and Lukashenko to pray “for our Russian land, for the Slavic peoples, for God’s truth, for peace”.

Hieromonk David, head of the Smolensk Skete, told state-affiliated tabloid Argumenty i Fakty on Monday that the fresco had been painted as early as March 2022, at the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and depicted “two twin brothers” that ended up “on opposite sides of the barricades”, but were looking “in the same direction”, finding common values “under one God, with one Orthodox faith”.

Speaking to reporters during the visit to the monastery on Friday, the day after a massive missile and drone strike on Kyiv that killed at least 31 people, including five children, Putin said while he viewed the peace negotiations with Ukraine “positively”, he wished the talks to take place “without cameras” and “without any political noise”.

“No matter who you are, all disappointments arise from excessive expectations,” Putin added, an apparent reference to the White House’s recent exasperation in Moscow’s lack of willingness to end its war efforts.