St Peter\u2019s
\nUkrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and US President Donald Trump have met inside St Peter\u2019s Basilica ahead of Pope Francis\u2019s funeral.
\nThe White House described the 15-minute meeting as \u201cvery productive\u201d and Zelensky later called it \u201cvery symbolic\u201d with the \u201cpotential to become historic\u201d.
\nTrump and Zelensky were pictured sitting locked in deep discussion, minutes before the late pontiff\u2019s funeral was due to start.
\nThe meeting came a day after Trump said Russia and Ukraine were \u201cvery close to a deal\u201d, following talks between his envoy Steve Witkoff and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Friday.
\nThe two leaders had not seen each other face-to-face since their tempestuous Oval Office meeting at the end of February, when Trump told Zelensky \u201cyou don\u2019t have the cards\u201d and he was not winning against Russia.
\nHe repeated that message this week, saying the Ukrainian leader had \u201cno cards to play\u201d.
\nTrump has previously blamed Ukraine for starting the war and has accused Zelensky multiple times of being an obstacle to peace negotiations.
\nBut posting from his Truth social account after leaving Rome, Trump took aim at the Russian president saying there was \u201cno reason for Putin to be shooting missiles into civilian areas\u201d, in reference to Russian strikes on Kyiv earlier this week.
\nTrump added: \u201cIt makes me think that maybe he [Putin] doesn\u2019t want to stop the war, he\u2019s just tapping me along, and has to be dealt with differently, through \u2018Banking\u2019 or \u2018Secondary Sanctions?\u2019\u201d
\nMeanwhile, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Putin had confirmed Russia\u2019s readiness to enter into direct talks with Ukraine \u201cwithout preconditions\u201d in a meeting with Trump\u2019s envoy Steve Witkoff on Friday.
\nPutin aide Yuri Ushakov had described Witkoff\u2019s fourth visit to Russia this year as \u201cvery useful\u201d and that it had brought \u201cRussian and US positions closer together, not just on Ukraine but also on a range of other international issues\u201d.
\nIn Rome, two images were released of Zelensky and Trump\u2019s one-on-one meeting ahead of the Pope\u2019s funeral.
\nThe US leader was pictured in a blue suit while Ukraine\u2019s president wore a black top and trousers. The two men are seen sitting opposite each other having an intense conversation and holding serious expressions.
\nZelensky described the sit down as a \u201cvery symbolic meeting that has potential to become historic, if we achieve joint results\u201d.
\nUkraine\u2019s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha also posted the image on X with the caption: \u201cNo words are needed to describe the importance of this historic meeting. Two leaders working for peace in St. Peter\u2019s Basilica.\u201d
\nAnother image posted by the Ukrainian delegation from inside St Peter\u2019s showed the two men standing alongside British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and France\u2019s Emmanuel Macron, his hand on Zelensky\u2019s shoulder.
\nThe implication was that the prime minister and French president had helped to bring the two together, against the sombre backdrop of the funeral.
\nAfter the meeting, Trump and Zelensky then walked down the steps of the basilica, where Zelensky\u2019s arrival was met with applause from the crowds, and took their seats in the front row.
\nDuring the service, the pair sat a short distance from each other, with Macron and other heads of state in between.
\nIn his homily, Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re spoke of Pope Francis\u2019s incessant calls for peace. \u201c\u2019Build bridges, not walls\u2019 was an exhortation he repeated many times,\u201d said the cardinal.
\nUkrainian officials had talked of a possible second meeting but Trump\u2019s motorcade drove away from St Peter\u2019s immediately afterwards and his plane left Rome a short time later.
\nZelensky however was pictured holding separate meetings with Macron and Sir Keir after the funeral, and he is also reportedly set to meet with EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
\nIn a post on X, Macron said ending the war in Ukraine was an objective that \u201cwe share in common with President Trump\u201d, adding that Ukraine was ready for \u201can unconditional ceasefire\u201d.
\nA Downing Street spokesperson said Starmer and Zelensky discussed the positive progress that had been made recently to \u201csecure a just and lasting peace in Ukraine,\u201d adding that the pair had agreed to \u201cmaintain momentum\u201d and \u201cspeak again at the earliest opportunity\u201d.
\nDuring February\u2019s heated White House exchange, Trump accused the Ukrainian president of \u201cgambling with World War Three\u201d by not going along with ceasefire plans led by Washington.
\nKyiv has been on the receiving end of growing pressure from Trump to accept territorial concessions as part of an agreement with Moscow to end the war.
\nThese concessions would reportedly include giving up large portions of land, including the Crimean peninsula which was illegally annexed by Russia in 2014.
\nZelensky has repeatedly rejected the idea in the past. He suggested to the BBC on Friday that \u201ca full and unconditional ceasefire opens up the possibility to discuss everything\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
St Peter\u2019s Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and US President Donald Trump have met inside St Peter\u2019s Basilica ahead of Pope Francis\u2019s funeral. The White House described the 15-minute meeting as \u201cvery productive\u201d and Zelensky later called it \u201cvery symbolic\u201d with the \u201cpotential to become historic\u201d. Trump and Zelensky were pictured sitting locked in deep discussion, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":474969,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-474953","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n