Pope Leo XIV meets JD Vance ahead of Ukraine ceasefire push
Pope Leo XIV has received US Vice President JD Vance and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio at the Vatican, ahead of a US-led push to end the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Follow updates.
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Pope Leo XIV received US Vice President JD Vance and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio at the Vatican on Monday, ahead of a US-led push to end the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
The Vatican released photographs of Vance and Rubio smiling as they met with the Chicago-born pontiff, who was elected as head of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics on May 8 - the first pope from the United States.
The pair were among the 200,000 dignitaries, royals and faithful who had gathered Sunday to mark the official start of Leo’s papacy at an inauguration mass in St Peter’s Square.
Pope Leo, 69, has made peace the key word of his papacy so far and was expected to talk to Vance and Rubio about the US administration’s role in pushing for an end to the Russia-Ukraine conflict in particular.
VP Vance handed Leo an invitation from US President Donald Trump to visit the White House, his spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt told reporters in Washington, adding that Trump hoped the visit would happen as soon as possible.
Trump will hold a phone call with Russia’s Vladimir Putin later Monday as part of his efforts to end the war set off by Moscow’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
Mr Vance also met Monday with the Holy See’s Secretary for Relations with States, Paul Richard Gallagher, for “cordial talks” during which they expressed “satisfaction at the good bilateral relations”, the Vatican said.
There was also “an exchange of views on some current international issues, calling for respect for humanitarian law and international law in areas of conflict and for a negotiated solution between the parties involved”, it said.
There was a flurry of diplomatic meetings on the sidelines of Pope Leo’s inauguration, with world dignitaries discussing both Israel’s offensive in Gaza and the Ukraine conflict.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky, who was present at the inauguration mass, met with Pope Leo for his first private audience Sunday.
He also sat down with Vance and Rubio to discuss “their shared goal of ending the bloodshed in Ukraine,” according to the vice president’s office.
Pope Leo offered last week to mediate between leaders of countries at war, saying that he himself “will make every effort so that this peace may prevail”.
And the pope’s number two, Secretary of State Pietro Parolin, said Friday Leo “may offer the Vatican for a direct meeting between the two parties”, according to media reports.
Mr Vance’s audience with Leo lasted 45 minutes, the VP’s spokesperson said.
Before becoming pope, Leo reposted on his personal X account criticism of US President Donald Trump’s administration over its approach to migration and also pilloried Mr Vance.
But Vance insisted that the United States was “very proud of him”, adding that “our prayers go with him as he starts this very important work”.
VP Vance converted to Catholicism in 2019 and Mr Rubio is also a Catholic.
Mr Vance and Gallagher also discussed “collaboration between Church and State... as well as some matters of special relevance to ecclesial life and religious freedom,” the Vatican said.
Pope Leo, who was elected following the death of his predecessor Pope Francis last month, is tasked with tackling a series of pressing challenges facing the Catholic Church.
These include a bitter divide between supporters of Francis’s reforms and conservative opponents, particularly in the United States, as well as increasingly empty pews in the West.
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ALBO MAKES VOW TO UKRAINE
Australia’s prime minister Anthony Albanese has taken to social media platform X, formerly Twitter, to announce that “Australia stands with Ukraine, now and always.”
Mr Albanese shared a photo of him shaking hands with his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelensky.
Mr Zelensky thanked Mr Albanese for the federal government’s support of his nation and also for sending M1A1 Abrams tanks to the war-torn country as it continues to fight against Russia.
“Together we can really move the situation closer to peace with pressure on Russia and we are very thankful for sanctions,” he said during the meeting on Sunday afternoon (Monday AEST).
ÐвÑÑ‚Ñ€Ð°Ð»Ñ–Ñ Ð¿Ñ–Ð´Ñ‚Ñ€Ð¸Ð¼ÑƒÑ” Україну – зараз Ñ– завжди.
— Anthony Albanese (@AlboMP) May 18, 2025
Слава Україні!
__
Australia stands with Ukraine, now and always.
Slava Ukraini!@ZelenskyyUa
🇦🇺🇺🇦 pic.twitter.com/krIsh0418k
The meeting in Rome, where Mr Zelensky thanked the Vatican for “for its willingness to become a platform for direct negotiations between Ukraine and Russia,” comes as Russia launched a record number of drones at the country overnight, targeting various regions, including that of the capital Kyiv, where a woman was killed. Another man was killed in the southeastern Kherson region.
The attacks came only two days after the first direct peace talks between Russia and Ukraine in more than three years, which failed to produce a truce.
Mr Putin said in an interview released on Sunday that his focus was on eradicating what he called the root causes of the Ukraine conflict and guaranteeing Russia’s security.
The Ukrainian air force said that Russia had launched “273 Shahed attack drones and various types of imitator drones”, of which 88 were destroyed and 128 more went astray “without negative consequences”.
TRUMP REVEALS PUTIN CALL TO STOP ‘BLOODBATH’
US President Donald Trump has revealed he will be speaking by phone with Russian President Vladimir Putin to stop the “bloodbath” in Ukraine.
Mr Trump’s announcement comes just days after the Russian leader declined to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for peace talks in Turkey.
Mr Trump posted about the upcoming call on his Truth Social platform.
“I WILL BE SPEAKING, BY TELEPHONE, TO PRESIDENT VLADIMIR PUTIN OF RUSSIA ON MONDAY, AT 10:00 A.M. THE SUBJECTS OF THE CALL WILL BE, STOPPING THE ‘BLOODBATH’ THAT IS KILLING, ON AVERAGE, MORE THAN 5000 RUSSIAN AND UKRAINIAN SOLDIERS A WEEK,” Mr Trump wrote.
The US President also said he is going to discuss trade with Mr Putin and will later reach out to Mr Zelensky as well as NATO leaders.
“HOPEFULLY IT WILL BE A PRODUCTIVE DAY, A CEASEFIRE WILL TAKE PLACE, AND THIS VERY VIOLENT WAR, A WAR THAT SHOULD HAVE NEVER HAPPENED, WILL END,” Mr Trump said. “GOD BLESS US ALL!!!”
‘P****D AWAY DOLLARS’: TRUMP’S SHOT AT ZELENSKY
Earlier, Mr Trump accuse Mr Zelensky of having “pissed away” billions of dollars in US aid for the war-torn country.
Mr Trump, in an interview with Fox News’ “Special Report” host Bret Baier, insisted that Kyiv’s management of US-provided funds bothered him more than the amount of money Washington has doled out to Ukraine since Russia’s February 2022 invasion.
“The money is the money,” the president said. “What bothered me — I hated to see the way it was, you know, excuse me, pissed away.”
Mr Trump vented his frustrations with Mr Zelensky’s handling of US aid in response to a question from Baier on whether he’s considering additional sanctions against Mr Putin.
“I hated to see that checks were sent for $60 billion every time Mr Zelensky [travelled to Washington],” he fumed.
“I think he’s the greatest salesman in the world. Far better than me,” Mr Trump said of the Ukrainian President.
“Where is all this money going?” he added.
Mr Trump continued to voice his displeasure with Kyiv even after Baier interjected, “But I’m focused on Putin.”
“We send checks. We don’t always send equipment. We send — just checks. We send — just cash,” the President claimed. “Where is it?”
When Mr Trump started to argue that European nations should’ve contributed more than the US to the war effort, Baier once again tried to redirect him to his Putin question.
“Wait,” Mr Trump responded, before arguing that the US has been “treated worse” than Europe by Ukraine.
“We inherited this mess, but I think it’s going to get solved.”
KREMLIN WANTS POW EXCHANGE BEFORE TALKS
It comes as the Kremlin on Saturday said that Ukraine and Russia must first complete an agreed prisoner-of-war exchange and come up with ceasefire conditions, before planning any new talks.
‘“For now, we need to do what the delegations agreed on yesterday” in Turkey — the first direct talks in over three years — the Kremlin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists following a question on whether there were plans for a second round of talks.
‘“This, of course, means first and foremost to complete a 1,000 for 1,000 (POW) swap.”
RUSSIAN DRONE ATTACK KILLS 9 IN MINIBUS
Nine people were killed in a Russian drone attack on a minibus carrying civilians in Ukraine’s northern Sumy region on Saturday, the local military administration said.
“Unfortunately, as a result of a cynical attack by Russians on a bus with civilians, there are dead,” the administration said in a Telegram post.
“Unfortunately, the death toll has risen to nine,” they added later, alongside a photo of a mangled blue minibus that had apparently been torn apart by the blast.
Four people were wounded in the attack, the administration said. In the earlier post, the authorities had said that eight people were killed. The bus, which was attacked near the city of Bilopillya while travelling towards Sumy, was “targeted by the Russians”, the military administration said.
Part of this story originally appeared in The New York Post.
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Originally published as Pope Leo XIV meets JD Vance ahead of Ukraine ceasefire push
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