Ukraine war: Trump, Zelensky ‘hopeful’ after meeting at pontiff’s final farewell
Donald Trump has lashed out at Russia after warming to Volodymyr Zelensky following an impromptu heart-to-heart with the Ukrainian leader before the Pope’s funeral.
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US President Donald Trump has hit out at Vladimir Putin following his meeting at the Pope’s funeral with Ukraine leader Volodymyr Zelensky.
Mr Trump appeared to have been moved by what Mr Zelensky had to say, stating “maybe (Putin) doesn’t want to stop the war.”
The American leader added he believed Putin “has to be dealt with differently,” possibly through additional sanctions targeting Moscow.
“There was no reason for Putin to be shooting missiles into civilian areas, cities and towns, over the last few days,” Mr Trump said in a post to Truth Social.
“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!!!”
Mr Zelensky also an insight into his meeting with Mr Trump at St Peter’s Basilica just minutes before the start of Pope Francis’s funeral.
“Good meeting. One-on-one, we managed to discuss a lot. We hope for a result from all the things that were said. Protection of the lives of our people. Complete and unconditional ceasefire,” Mr Zelensky wrote on Telegram.
“Reliable and lasting peace that will prevent a recurrence of war. A very symbolic meeting that has the potential to become historic if we achieve joint results. Thank you, President Donald Trump!”
Mr Zelensky’s spokesperson, Serhii Nykyforov, said before Mr Zelensky’s public post that the meeting lasted around 15 minutes. This was the first time the two leaders met in person since their infamous public argument in the White House in February.
An aide to Mr Zelensky described the meeting as “constructive” and the White House called it “a very productive discussion”.
The US President flew out of Rome immediately after the funeral mass and there were no further talks.
But the two leaders also briefly huddled inside the basilica with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron.
Mr Macron’s office described the exchanges as “positive” and he later met Mr Zelensky one-on-one.
Britain said Mr Starmer and Mr Zelensky had “discussed positive progress made in recent days”.
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EXTRAORDINARY SCENES AS TRUMP, ZELENSKY MEET AT POPE’S FUNERAL
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and US President Donald Trump had a “very productive” 15-minute discussion inside St Peter’s Basilica, moments before Pope Francis’s funeral.
The pair were sat face-to-face on red chairs and were captured leaning toward each other, with no officials around them. Mr Zelensky later wrote on X that it was a “very symbolic meeting” that had the “potential to become historic, if we achieve joint results.”
“Hoping for results on everything we covered,” he said in the post.
“Protecting lives of our people. Full and unconditional ceasefire. Reliable and lasting peace that will prevent another war from breaking out.”
Saturday was the first time the pair had met since their explosive argument in the Oval Office.
Afterwards, the two were seen in a huddle with French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer.
Later Mr Zelensky, dressed in a black jacket and black combat boots, received a spontaneous round of applause from the crowd as he went to take his seat with other VIPs at the ceremony.
There was no applause for Mr Trump, who arrived moments earlier, with his wife and First Lady Melania, wearing a black mourning veil.
Earlier in the week, the two leaders had engaged in a war of words, after Mr Trump blamed the Ukrainian President for derailing his plan for ending the Russia-Ukraine war.
The world leaders were seated according to the French alphabet – considered to be the language of diplomacy. Mr Trump and Mr Zelensky were sat 10 seats apart.
TRUMP SAYS DEAL WITH RUSSIA ‘VERY CLOSE’
US President Donald Trump said Friday that Russia and Ukraine were “very close” to a ceasefire deal, and urged the two sides to meet and finalise it.
The president’s comments come after a senior Russian military general was killed in a fiery car explosion in Moscow.
General-lieutenant Yaroslav Moskalik, deputy head of the main operations directorate of the Russian armed forces, died when the vehicle blew up in the town of Balashikha, Russian media reported.
The bomb had been planted in a parked car and was detonated remotely as the officer, who lived nearby, walked past, law enforcement sources said.
Mr Trump made the statement on his Truth Social platform after arriving in Rome with first lady Melania Trump to attend the funeral of Pope Francis.
“A good day in talks and meetings with Russia and Ukraine,” Mr Trump posted. “They are very close to a deal, and the two sides should now meet, at very high levels, to ‘finish it off’.”
Footage of the shocking blast captured a vehicle entirely engulfed in flames near an apartment building just moments after the explosion.
Russia on Friday accused Ukraine of being behind the car bomb.
“There are reasons to believe that Ukraine’s special services were involved in the murder,” Russia’s foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in a statement.
The incident comes a day after Russia launched its deadliest attack on Ukraine in almost a year.
Ukraine in the past has claimed responsibility for targeting Russian military officers on their home soil.
Lt. Gen. Igor Kirillov, the Kremlin’s top nuclear weapons chief, was assassinated in a car bombing last December.
Ukraine later admitted its role in that killing, saying Krillov was targeted for allegedly orchestrating the use of chemical weapons against Ukrainian troops.
The latest car bombing comes after US President Trump blasted Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin for bombing Ukraine in defiance of attempts to broker peace, telling him to ‘STOP!’
Kyiv has not commented on the attack, but sees such attacks as retribution for Moscow’s military campaign, which has resulted in tens of thousands of people killed.
The leader of Russia’s Caucasus region of North Osetia, Sergei Menyailo, told RIA Novosti that Ukraine could be behind the killing.
Investigators lifted a body in a black plastic sack and carried it to an ambulance, an AFP journalist saw.
Police had cordoned off the site, with ambulances and fire engines surrounding the area.
Locals said they heard a loud blast on Friday morning, local time.
“The explosion was very strong, it even gave me heart pain,” Lyudmila, a 50-year-old who lives nearby told AFP.
Security camera footage posted by the Izvestia newspaper of Friday’s blast showed a massive explosion, sending fragments flying into the air. The blast happens just as someone can be seen walking towards the car.
Attackers triggered an improvised explosive device packed with metal fragments designed to cause maximum harm, investigators said.
The Agentstvo investigative news site, citing leaked information, said Moskalik lived in Balashikha, but the Volkswagen was not registered to him.
Russian Telegram channels with links to law enforcement posted unconfirmed reports that the car had been purchased a few months ago by a man from the Ukrainian city of Sumy and loaded with explosives.
They wrote that it had been parked outside the block of flats for a few days and was equipped with a camera.
TASS reported that Moskalik was 59.
Russian President Vladimir Putin made Moskalik general-lieutenant in 2021.
US ENVOY MEETS PUTIN IN RUSSIA FOR TRUCE TALKS
US envoy Steve Witkoff met Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin on Friday to tout Washington’s plan to settle the Ukraine conflict, a day after Donald Trump issued a direct appeal to the Russian president to halt his offensive.
Video published by Russian state media showed Mr Witkoff meeting Mr Putin at the Kremlin, with the two smiling, shaking hands and exchanging a few words in English before beginning talks.
The billionaire real estate investor is playing a key role in Washington’s peace efforts and had already met Mr Putin on three previous occasions since Mr Trump returned to the White House in January.
Mr Trump has threatened to walk away from talks if he does not see progress towards a ceasefire.
Mr Witkoff told Fox News earlier this month that a peace settlement hinged on the status of the “so-called five territories” – a comment that drew a sharp rebuke from Mr Zelensky, who accused the US envoy of “spreading Russian narratives”.
ZELENSKY: CRIMEA BELONGS TO UKRAINE
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Friday that Crimea belongs to Ukraine and that his position had not changed after statements by US President Donald Trump questioning the future status of the peninsula, annexed by Russia in 2014.
Mr Trump has criticised Mr Zelensky for not agreeing to cede the Black Sea peninsula -seized by Russia and internationally recognised as Ukraine – as part as a potential deal to end the war.
“Our position is unchanged: only the Ukrainian people have the right to decide which territories are Ukrainian. The constitution of Ukraine says that all the temporarily occupied territories … belong to Ukraine, to the Ukrainian people,” Mr Zelensky told reporters in Kyiv.
“Ukraine will not legally recognise any temporarily occupied territories.”
Mr Trump has said that Ukraine “lost” Crimea “years ago” and that Kyiv did not fight for Crimea in 2014.
– with AFP
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Originally published as Ukraine war: Trump, Zelensky ‘hopeful’ after meeting at pontiff’s final farewell