VATICAN CITY (Reuters) – President Donald Trump and Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskiy, in Rome for the funeral of Pope Francis, met one-on-one in a marble-lined Vatican basilica on Saturday to try to revive faltering efforts to end Russia’s war with Ukraine.
Zelenskiy said the meeting could prove historic if it delivers the kind of peace he is hoping for, and a White House spokesperson called it “very productive.”
The two leaders, leaning in close to each other with no aides around them while seated in St. Peter’s Basilica, spoke for about 15 minutes, according to Zelenskiy’s office, and images of the meeting released by Kyiv and Washington.
The meeting at the Vatican, their first since an angry encounter in the Oval Office in Washington in February, comes at a critical time in negotiations aimed at bringing an end to fighting between Ukraine and Russia.
After Pope Francis’s funeral service, Trump boarded Air Force One and departed Rome. While in the air, he published a social media post in which he took a tough tone on Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“There was no reason for Putin to be shooting missiles into civilian areas, cities and towns, over the last few days,” Trump posted on Truth Social. Twelve people were killed on Thursday when a missile fired by Russia hit a Kyiv apartment block.
“It makes me think that maybe he doesn’t want to stop the war, he’s just tapping me along, and has to be dealt with differently, through ‘Banking’ or ‘Secondary Sanctions?’ Too many people are dying!!!” Trump wrote.
Following Trump’s remarks, Republican U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham said the Senate is poised to move forward on bipartisan legislation that would impose trade sanctions on countries that purchase Russian oil, gas and other products.
“The Senate stands ready to move in this direction and will do so overwhelmingly if Russia does not embrace an honorable, just and enduring peace,” Graham posted on X.
Trump’s post was a departure from his usual rhetoric that has seen the toughest criticism directed at Zelenskiy, while he has spoken positively about Putin.
In a post on social media platform Telegram, Zelenskiy wrote: “Good meeting. One-on-one, we managed to discuss a lot. We hope for a result from all the things that were spoken about.”
He said those topics included: “The protection of the lives of our people. A complete and unconditional ceasefire. A reliable and lasting peace that will prevent a recurrence of war.”
Zelenskiy added: “It was a very symbolic meeting that has the potential to become historic if we achieve joint results. Thank you, President Donald Trump!”
NO AIDES IN SIGHT
In one photograph released by Zelenskiy’s office, the Ukrainian and U.S. leaders sat opposite each other in a hall of the basilica, around two feet apart, and were leaning in towards each other in conversation. No aides could be seen in the image.
In a second photograph, from the same location, Zelenskiy, Trump, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron were shown standing in a tight huddle. Macron had his hand on Zelenskiy’s shoulder.
After Trump and Zelenskiy met in the basilica, the two men joined other world leaders outside in Saint Peter’s Square at the funeral service for Pope Francis, who made the pursuit of peace, including in Ukraine, a motif of his papacy.
Italian Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, who gave the sermon at the funeral service, recalled how Pope Francis did not stop raising his voice to call for negotiations to end conflicts.
“War always leaves the world worse than it was before: it is always a painful and tragic defeat for everyone,” the cardinal said.
DIFFERENCES OVER TERRITORY
Trump has been pressing both Moscow and Kyiv to agree on a ceasefire and peace deal. He had previously warned his administration would walk away from its efforts to achieve a peace if the two sides do not agree on a deal soon.
After a round of shuttle diplomacy this week, differences have emerged between the position of the Trump White House on peace talks and the stance of Ukraine and its European allies, according to documents from the talks obtained by Reuters.
Washington is proposing a legal recognition that Crimea, the Ukrainian peninsula annexed by Moscow in 2014, is Russian territory, something that Kyiv and its allies in Europe say is a red line they will not cross.
There are also differences on how quickly sanctions on Russia would be lifted if a peace deal was signed, what kind of security guarantees Ukraine would have, and how Ukraine would be financially compensated.
Trump and Zelenskiy have had a rocky personal relationship. At their Oval Office meeting, Trump accused the Ukrainian leader of “gambling with World War Three.”
Since then, Kyiv has tried to repair relations, but the barbs have continued. Zelenskiy has said Trump was trapped in a “disinformation bubble” that favored Moscow, while the U.S. leader accused Zelenskiy of foot-dragging on a peace deal and making “inflammatory” statements.
But the two men need each other. Trump requires Zelenskiy’s buy-in to achieve his stated ambition of bringing a swift peace between Russia and Ukraine, while Kyiv needs Trump to pressure Moscow into diluting some of the more onerous conditions it has set for a truce.
At the Oval Office meeting in February, a reporter who was present from a conservative U.S. news network accused Zelenskiy of disrespecting the occasion by not wearing a suit.
Zelenskiy, since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022, has eschewed suits in favour of military-style attire, saying it is his way of showing solidarity with his countrymen fighting to defend Ukraine.
In Rome on Saturday, Zelenskiy again decided against a suit, and instead wore a dark shirt, buttoned up to the neck with no tie, and wore a dark military-style jacket over the top of that.
(Reporting by Steve Holland and Angelo Amante; Additional reporting by Christian Lowe and Andrii Pryimachenko in Kyiv and Alistair Smout in London; Writing by Christian Lowe and James Oliphant; Editing by Alexandra Hudson and Rod Nickel)
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