US President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in the Vatican city for Pope Francis funeral, met once in a marble brushing basilica in an attempt to relaunch the faulty efforts to end the Russian-Ukraine war.
Zelenskyy said that the meeting could be historic if it offers the type of peace he hopes, and a White House spokesman called her “very productive”.
The two leaders, leaning close to each other, without aid around them when he was seated in the Saint-Pierre basilica, spoke for about 15 minutes, according to the office of Zelenskyy. Meeting images were published by Kyiv and Washington.
It is the first meeting between the two presidents since an angry meeting at the Oval Office of Washington, DC, in February and arrives at a critical moment of negotiations to end the war.
`Too many people die ‘, writes Trump
After the funeral of Pope Francis on Saint-Pierre square, Trump rose to the Air Force One and left Rome. In the air, he published an article on social networks that took a difficult tone on Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“There was no reason for Putin to get missiles in civil areas, cities and cities, in the past few days,” Trump posted on Truth social. Twelve people were killed Thursday when a missile pulled by Russia struck a kyiv building.
“It makes me think that he may not want to stop war, he simply makes me hit and must be treated differently, by` bank ” or “secondary sanctions? “Too many people die !!!” Trump wrote.
Trump’s post was a gap of his usual rhetoric, which saw the most difficult criticism directed against Zelenskyy while he was talking about Putin positively.
In an article on the Telegram social media platform, Zelenskyy wrote: “Good meeting. One-one, we managed to discuss a lot. We hope for all the things we talked about.”
Zelenskyy thanks Trump after the “symbolic” meeting
The Ukrainian president said that these subjects understood: “The protection of the life of our people. A complete and unconditional ceasefire. A reliable and lasting peace that will prevent recurrence of war.”
Zelenskyy added: “It was a very symbolic meeting that has the potential to become historic if we get joint results. Thank you, President Donald Trump!”
In a photograph published by the office of Zelenskyy, the Ukrainian and American leaders were seated in the face of each other in a room in the basilica, about half a meter and leaning towards each other in the conversation. No necklace could be seen in the image.
On a second photograph, from the same place, Zelenskyy, Trump, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron were shown standing in a tight group. Macron had his hand on Zelenskyy’s shoulder.
After Trump and Zelenskyy met in the basilica, the two men joined other world leaders outside on Saint-Pierre square during the funeral ceremony of Pope Francis, who made the pursuit of peace, including in Ukraine, a reason for his papacy.
Italian cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, who gave the funeral sermon, recalled how Francis did not stop raising his voice to ask for negotiations to end conflicts.
“War always leaves the world worse than before: it is always a painful and tragic defeat for everyone,” said the cardinal.
Differences in the territory
Trump put pressure on Moscow and Kyiv to accept a ceasefire and a peace agreement. He had previously warned that his administration would move away from his efforts to reach peace if the two parties did not accept an agreement soon.
After a series of shuttle diplomas this week, differences emerged between the position of Trump’s White House on peace talks and the position of Ukraine and its European allies, according to documents from the talks obtained by Reuters.
Washington offers legal recognition that Crimea, the Ukrainian peninsula annexed by Moscow in 2014, is Russian territory, which kyiv and its allies in Europe say they are a red line that they will not cross.
There are also differences on the speed with which sanctions against Russia would be lifted if a peace agreement was signed, what type of security guarantee would have been and how Ukraine would be financially offset.
Trump and Zelenskyy had a difficult personal relationship. At their oval office meeting earlier this year, Trump accused the Ukrainian chief of “playing with the Second World War”.
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Since then, Kyiv has tried to repair relations, but the beards have continued.
Zelenskyy said Trump had been trapped in a “disinformation bubble” that favored Moscow, while the American chief accused Zelenskyy of falling back on a peace agreement and making “inflammatory” statements.
However, Trump requires the membership of Zelenskyy to achieve his declared ambition to bring rapid peace between Russia and Ukraine, while kyiv needs Trump to put pressure on Moscow in the dilution of some of the most expensive conditions she has set for a truce.
During the meeting of the Oval Office, a journalist from a network of new American curator accused Zelenskyy of lacking respect on occasion by not carrying a costume.
Zelenskyy, since the start of Russia’s large -scale invasion in 2022, has avoided costumes in favor of military style, claiming that it is his way of showing solidarity with those of his country who are fighting to defend Ukraine.
In Rome on Saturday, Zelenskyy wore a dark shirt, buttoned to the neck without tie and surmounted by a dark military style jacket.
At the beginning of 2024, in an interview with the Swiss broadcaster RSI, Pope Francis said that he thought that Ukraine should have “the courage of the white flag” and negotiate with Russia, with peace talks negotiated by international powers.
The comments sparked an angry response, Zelenskyy rejecting them as “virtual mediation” of a distant religious figure. Polish Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski has parallels between those who call for negotiations and the “appeasement” of the European leaders of Adolf Hitler just before the Second World War.
The Vatican clarified the comments a few days later, saying that the Pope did not mean that Ukraine surrenders.
