Trump meets Zelenskyy during visit to Pope Francis’ funeral
VATICAN CITY — President Trump met with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the Vatican Saturday morning, right before attending Pope Francis’ funeral.
Trump has been working to broker peace talks to try to end Russia’s war in Ukraine. His last meeting with Zelenskyy in February abruptly ended after they argued in front of television cameras and Trump criticized Zelenskyy for being ungrateful for U.S. aid. The leaders later spoke by phone in March.
Photos released by the Ukrainian government on Saturday showed the leaders in a private one-on-one discussion, as well as speaking with French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who have been leading European efforts on a peace agreement.
White House communications director Steven Cheung told reporters that Trump and Zelenskyy “had a very productive discussion” and said more details about the meeting would follow.
Trump and Zelenskyy’s meeting comes a day after U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow. Trump aide Keith Kellogg also met this week with Ukrainian and European officials in London.
Late Friday, Trump expressed optimism on social media, saying most major issues had been agreed to and that “the two sides should now meet, at very high levels” to finish a deal.
Trump officials have presented Ukraine and Russia with options for a peace deal. They have not been made public, but Zelenskyy has said one of the ideas — ceding Crimea to Russia — was “against our constitution.”
Trump had expressed frustration with Zelenskyy for those comments, saying that Crimea had been effectively lost long ago and should not be the deal-breaker. He also said he was “not happy” about Russian strikes on Kyiv this week.
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